Louis van Gaal made headlines this week by suggesting that the 2022 World Cup was fixed for Lionel Messi’s Argentina to win. The 72-year-old is no longer in charge of the Netherlands national team, who now has Ronald Koeman at the helm, but the former Oranje boss is still upset with how things went in Qatar.
“I don’t really want to say much about it. If you see how Argentina gets the goals and how we get the goals and how some of Argentina’s players crossed the line and weren’t punished, then I think it’s all preconceived game,” van Gaal told Dutch outlet NOS. “I mean everything I say by that. That Messi had to become world champion? I think so, yes.”
While van Gaal faced backlash from Messi and Argentina fans around the world, Virgil van Dijk made it clear he disagreed with his former coach. Koeman didn’t want to expand about this subject, though he seems to understand van Gaal.
Koeman addresses van Gaal’s comments on Messi’s World Cup win
“I wouldn’t have said it if I were him… I had moments in Spain where I had the feeling Real Madrid was more favoured than Barça, but you can’t really prove it, so it’s better not to say anything,” Koeman said about van Gaal’s controversial comments, via NOS.
How many times have Argentina won the World Cup?
Argentina have been world champions on three occasions (1978, 1986, and 2022).
How many times have the Netherlands reached the World Cup final?
The Netherlands national team have made it to the World Cup final three times, finishing as runner-up in 1974, 1978, and 2010.
