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Having secured a spot in the quarter-finals, Van Gaal has also been talking up the Netherlands’ hopes of winning the tournament. “I think we have big chances here,” he said. “We still have three matches to go. I’ve been talking about this for a year. We can become world champions – not that we will – but we can. I am talking about team bonding, how we can build the strongest possible team and I derive pleasure from the group of players and, of course, performances and results.”
Seasoned Louis van Gaal watchers will have enjoyed his reaction to the Netherlands’ 3-1 win against the USA yesterday. Not only did he give Denzel Dumfries, scorer of his side’s third goal, “a big fat kiss” in his post-match press conference, he also danced through the team’s hotel lobby with all the rhythm of an eccentric uncle in the last hour of a wedding.
