The opening match is already behind us and we turned to the second day of the World Cup, the day when some of the greats of Europe, Africa and Asia begin their journey in Qatar.
One of them is the Dutch national team, one of the favorites in Israel as well.
There are many interesting stories surrounding the current Netherlands, but the main one is the coach, Louis van Hal.
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For the 71-year-old Van Halen, this is his third term in the national team.
The first was short (2002-2001) and was hailed as a failure.
The second was a great success with the third place in the 2014 World Cup, including a huge 1:5 victory over the then world and European champions, Spain, in the opening match.
The current term will also be his farewell to a wonderful coaching career, which began somewhere on December 1, 1986 as an assistant coach in Alkmaar, of course.
The greatest coaches in the history of Dutch football, the ones who dictated the way for everyone and brought Total Football into the world, were two: the first is Reinus Michels, under whom Holland broke hearts in West Germany in 1974, when they lost to Beckenbauer and Gerd Muller in the final after a wonderful tournament.
But she made amends and delighted many in that country 14 years later, when she won the Euros with the wonder trio from Milan, Frank Rijkaard, Rod Hulit and Marco van Basten;
The second is of course the legendary Johan Cruyff, the idealist, who brought total football to Barcelona, gave the Catalans the first Champions Cup in 1992 (with the young Pep Guardiola in the team) and passed Dutch football to the current generation.
Where is the attack?
In terms of historical status, Van Gaal is not in the league of Michaels and Cruyff, but he is unique and special in his own way.
What distinguishes him from the two giants of the generation that paved the way for him is his pragmatism.
Van Gaal realized in 2014 that the Dutch national team, with the players at his disposal, could not play in the traditional 4:3:3 formation, so he switched to a formation of three defenders with two strikers and succeeded in a big way.
Memphis Depay.
Can the Netherlands build on him?, photo: AFP
Even in the current term Van Gaal is following the same path, but this time the situation is different mainly in the attack.
Holland has top defenders - Virgil van Dijk, Stefan de Frey, Jurien Timber, Nathan Ake and Theiss de Licht (Sven Butman, who is having a fantastic season in Newcastle, not even in the squad) - but it is Holland's striker position, one of the positions that is most identified with it After all, it is a weak point.
In 2014, there was Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie, before them there was Rod van Nistelrooy, Pierre van Hooydonk, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Klaas Jan Huntelaar (the last two played a little because of position overload), Dennis Bergkamp - and above all of them there was one, van Basten.
Today it is expected that Steven Berghain, who is in bad personal shape at Ajax, will start in the wing, and the one who will join him later in the tournament is Memphis Depay, whose national team career is promising (9 goals away from Van Persie, who leads the national team's all-time scorers), but he is coming after an injury and after having made two league appearances only this season (the last one in mid-September).
The replacement strikers Van Gaal Zieman (Luc de Jong, Wet and Horst and Vincent Janssen) are far from the level that Holland has accustomed us to, with their style of play corresponding to long balls and less ball movement.
Van Gaal's first match at the World Cup will be against African champions Senegal, who arrive without their biggest star, Sadio Mane.
As in 2014, this time too the first game will dictate the way for the Netherlands.
If things go awry against Elio Sissa's stubborn and defensive side, Van Gaal's famous pragmatism will be put to the test, and the last memory of him may depend on his ability to change on the fly.
What we did learn from the veteran coach's career is that precisely when the odds are against him and there are no giant stars, then his greatest moments come.
If it will be the same this time, Holland will accompany us until the deciding stages of the tournament.
Winner ratio for a Senegal win 5.60, for a draw 3.60 and for a Netherlands win 1.50
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