Berlin – Louis van Gaal tried to smile away at his painful mishap. “I can do anything”, emphasized the visibly battered Bondscoach after his serious bicycle accident and tortured himself into a joke: “Coaching is verbal – and my brain works well.”
But the 70-year-old’s body suffered badly in the fall on Sunday evening, van Gaal broke his hip and is temporarily in a wheelchair. “I’m in a lot of pain,” he said – and that just before the World Cup “final” in qualifying on Tuesday (8.45pm / DAZN) against Norway. Even without the injured Erling Haaland, van Gaal sees the Vikings as the “toughest opponent” in Group G, ahead of their second rival Turkey around coach Stefan Kuntz.
Netherlands two points ahead of Norway and Turkey
Oranje leads the season with 20 points ahead of the challengers with equal points (18 each), but when they run second three times in the World Cup, panic prevails. Many German fans are hoping for a new edition of the classic “Without Holland we’re going to the World Cup!” As in 2018.
“We have more quality than Norway – and we will show that,” said van Gaal. Norway’s injured miracle striker Haaland is interrupting his vacation, but is only sitting in Rotterdam as a noble fan on the otherwise empty grandstand due to Corona. The ghost game is absurd for van Gaal, the government of Mark Rutte “didn’t think about it logically,” he rumbled.
The former Bayern coach, who had to undergo hip surgery six years ago, does not have to be operated on. And he knows his way around coaching from a wheelchair: after a broken leg in 2007, he trained AZ Alkmaar like this. Besides, he joked, there is an elevator in the De Kuip stadium.
Stefan Kuntz is waiting for Turkey’s chance
Should the Elftal fail, Kuntz and his team could benefit from it. “We are ready when the door opens,” said the coach of the Turks, who in Montenegro can count on the support of the head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In any case, three points would mean a ticket to the play-offs. After seven points from three games under his leadership, they are already talking about the “Kuntz effect” in Turkey.
The ten runners-up in the group and the two teams qualified for the “Round of Hope” via the Nations League are fighting for just three starting places in Qatar. The draw will take place on November 26th (5 p.m.) in Zurich.
But Norway is still hoping for direct qualification. “Anything is possible,” said director Martin Ödegaard. Orange legend Rafael van der Vaart holds against it. Yes, his heirs had “a really bad day in Montenegro (2-2), but they are top players – that won’t happen to them twice in four days.” Not even if the boss is weak.