Thursday, August 15, 2013

Van Gaal: Dutch played very badly at times in Portugal draw

The Netherlands coach was satisfied with the first half against Paulo Bento's men but slammed his side's performance in the latter 45 minutes
Netherlands head coach Louis van Gaal has criticised his side's "very bad" second-half performance against Portugal on Wednesday.
The 2010 World Cup finalists were three minutes away from winning on the road after new Roma signing Kevin Strootman gave them the lead in the 17th minute, but a Cristiano Ronaldo strike ensured the tie finished 1-1.
Van Gaal acknowledged that a draw was still a good result, but questioned his side's fitness and composure in the second half, believing that his players ran out of steam in the friendly.
"In the first half we created as many chances as Portugal did," Van Gaal said. "We created a goal and I cannot say anything [bad] about the first half.
"If you do not lose against teams like Germany, Italy and Portugal, you are doing it right, but after the break we had possession and played very badly.
"We could not hold the ball and we saw the energy running out with some of the guys."
Netherlands have not lost a match since August last year and look set to qualify for World Cup 2014 having won six times in as many qualifying matches.

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