Louis Van Gaal brings fear factor

Teams are keen to avoid The Netherlands, but will they take the same fear to Manchester United?

 Suddenly nobody wants to play them, at least not at these early stages of the knockout rounds.

They arrived here without awe-inspiring credentials other than that they were the losing finalists in 2010.

In fact, the only other credential is they have Louis Van Gaal and a sprinkle of Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben and Manchester United striker Robin Van Persie.

Yet even host nation, Brazil, betrayed a sense of trepidation after The Netherlands beat Chile to top Group B.

The fear was reinforced further when Mexico threatened a deluge of goals over Croatia in their final group matches, which could have meant Brazil, were relegated to second and would meet The Netherlands.

The whole of Brazil breathed a sigh of relief after Fernandinho made it 4-1 against Cameroon and Ivan Perisic reduced Croatia’s arrears in the 3-1 loss to Mexico.

Van Persie and Robben have scored breathtaking goals here, but the manner in which Van Gaal’s men disposed of now ousted champions Spain and effortlessly brushed aside Chile has turned heads.

Van Gaal’s attention to detail and ability to raise the desire of an underperforming player could be what is driving on this Dutch side.

The Manchester United-bound manager started by questioning FIFA’s decision to have Brazil play its last match after his side despite hosts being team ‘A1’ in the draw, meaning they should have played first before their clash with Chile.

“FIFA, for every match, have an advert around fair play. But FIFA plays these tricks and it is not fair play. I don’t think that will be affected because Brazil plays after us.

“I can well imagine that Brazil doesn’t want to play us. We have scored a lot of goals, and we have scored fantastic goals too,” he said, comments that will surely unsettle rivals and football authorities in equal measure.

This is a detail that would easily escape a manager not wired to sniff out such under currents.

Even before his side’s 2-0 victory over Chile, Van Gaal had questioned the suitability of Gambian referee Bakary Gassama.

Flying Dutch

It is a tactic that will surely have warmed the hearts Manchester United fans.

Retired Sir Alex Ferguson was famed for putting referees under pressure by either praising them ahead of the Red Devil’s matches or by questioning their suitability.

And in a style reminiscent of Fergie, Van Gaal, commented: “I’m not going to give you an opinion on him (Gassama) as I’ve never seen him at work, so I assume FIFA have selected an excellent referee.”

He added: “Perhaps this referee will do a better job. I’m just hoping that FIFA has carried out a good selection policy.”

Creditably for Gassama and Rwandan assistant Felicien Kabanda no decision was contested. In fact, it is the Chileans who had a penalty shout waved away by the African official.

For years, Manchester United milked Ferguson’s strong-arm tactics against match officials and the English FA on the path to making the Red Devils a global force.

Under Ferguson’s successor David Moyes and United barely got decisions going their way.

It looks, however, Van Gaal could shake up the referees lockers in search of that one crucial decision.

At times looking aloof and disinterested, Van Gaal casts a deceptive look. His methodical approach to work, though, opens a window into the brain of a man schooled in a winning mentality.

Take the case of the squad he has brought here in Brazil.

Only Robin Van Persie, Arjen Robben and, probably Nigel De Jong could be elevated to a higher pedestal of world football.

Yet three group matches later, unheralded Memphis Depay, Leroy Fer, Jeremain Lens, Daley Blind, Stefan De Vrij and many others are looking the part.

Van Gaal has breathed life back into Wesley Sneijder, whose international career before World Cup looked over.

Most Manchester United players, such as Marouane Fellaini, Tom Cleverly and Michael Carrick among others have looked like dead wood.

That, however, may change with the Dutchman’s arrival in Manchester.