Louis van Gaal has told his Holland team that unless they improve, they will not win the World Cup.
Although the Dutch have yet to be defeated in the group stage, coach Van Gaal has warned his team that they will eventually lose their perfect record if they do not get better in possession. With the same number of points and the same number of goals scored, both Holland and Ecuador are tied for first place in Group B and need just one more point to advance to the knockout stage.
Even so, Van Gaal was not pleased, saying, “If you want to become world champions, we need to improve a lot, because the quality of the opponents we have yet to face is at a much higher level.”
Our performance was subpar today. Our issues stem from our poor play in terms of time of possession. The second balls, the duels, were all won by Ecuador as well. If that occurs, your chances of success are nil. Even though I was happy with the 1-1 tie, I was not happy with the game itself.
After six minutes of play, the Dutch took advantage of some lax Ecuadorian defense when Davy Klaassen fed Cody Gakpo, who scored with an unstoppable left-footed shot.
With his second goal of the tournament, Gakpo showed why many top clubs, including Manchester United, are interested in the PSV Eindhoven winger. He also scored in Holland’s 2-0 victory over Senegal. After being held at bay for the first twenty minutes, Ecuador mounted a sustained attack against the Dutch, with most of their attacks coming down the Dutch right side and captain Enner Valencia and Pervis Estupinan combining well to pose a threat.
After 30 minutes, Ecuador’s Valencia—who scored twice in the team’s 2-0 opening win over hosts Qatar—cut in from the left and unleashed a goal-bound shot that Dutch keeper Andries Noppert did well to palm away.
Estupinan gave Ecuador what they thought was an equalizer when he redirected Angelo Preciado’s low shot, but the goal was called back because Jackson Porozo was in the way, putting the Noppert’s line of sight out of alignment.
However, nobody had any doubt that Valencia had tied the game four minutes after the break. Valencia scored his third goal of the tournament when Noppert mishandled a shot by Esupinan.
The game petered out into a draw despite the fact that Ecuador dominated play and were unlucky not to take the lead just before the hour when Gonzalo Plata slammed the bar with a long-range effort.
Coach Gustavo Alfaro was ecstatic about Valencia’s recent play despite the fact that Valencia was taken off with a right knee injury. He should recover from his wound, I believe.