Hello and welcome to Telegraph Sport’s live coverage of the Netherlands and Argentina as these two countries meet for the fifth time in the World Cup Finals.
Their first meeting in the group stage came in 1974, at the height of Brilliant Orange, when Rinus Michels’ side won 4-0. Four years later, Argentina fought back at home by beating the Netherlands 3-1 in the final.
They had not met for 20 years when Dennis Bergkamp secured the quarter-finals with an impressive 90th-minute victory.
Daniel Passarella and Diego Maradona are the two Argentina captains who lifted the trophy, something Messi hopes to emulate as the culmination of a truly glorious career. The Dutch are yet to win the tournament, but have been runners-up three times and semi-finalists twice since 1974.
Van Gaal’s decision to abandon the traditional Dutch offensive style and pursue a counter-attack strategy was supported by many of his compatriots, but he continued to insist that he had the better tactics.
When asked how he intends to stop Lionel Messi, he said: “It would be foolish to reveal one’s tactics.”
“But it’s not hard to find an answer. You could have found an answer yourself. You might want to block and shut down traffic lines.
In the last two World Cup matches between Argentina and the Netherlands, in the group stage in 2006 and in the semi-finals in 2014, where Argentina won on penalties, neither team managed to score in regular or extra time.
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said his side were pursuing penalties but hoped the match would not be affected.
“They always take penalties before and after matches, but penalties are a matter of luck,” he said. “I hope we won’t go to penalties and hopefully the match can finish sooner.”
“We know that we will give everything on the pitch. We know that football can sometimes be very beautiful and sometimes brutal.”
