Van Gaal says Netherlands still have to improve

Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal celebrated his team’s qualification for the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Qatar after beating the United States 3-1, but warned: “We have to do even better”.

“We weren’t good with the ball, especially in the first half, but we scored two brilliant goals. We could have done much better and we have to,” said Van Gaal, in an interview with Dutch television channel NOS.

“We don’t have to be satisfied because we won by 3-1. We’re going to face tougher opponents, so we’ll have to be better in possession of the ball”, insisted the veteran coach, who justified the changes made at halftime (the entry of Steven Bergwijn and Teun Koopmeiners in place of Marten de Roon and Davy Klaassen) for “foolishly losing too many balls”.

“In the second half we started to play better with possession of the ball and from then on we managed to score another goal. I’m very proud, but we can do even better”, he concluded.