Depay previously also hit 10 penalties, a large part of his total production of 41 goals in Orange. He is also the record holder with those 10 rake penalties.
‘Otherwise we would have been world champions’
In the run-up to the World Cup, Van Gaal leaves nothing to chance and penalties can be very important in a final tournament, as the national coach also knows from his own experience. On Tuesday, at the end of the training, for the second time this international period, penalties were practiced.
“We don’t do that for nothing,” said Van Gaal to his players. “And again, what Frans (Hoek, ed.) says: we have you on loan, you should also practice it at your club. Because that is incredibly important at a World Cup. You have seen that with us. Otherwise we would have We would have reached the final and we would have already been world champions. That should not happen to us again.”
Van Gaal was referring to the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2014, when the Orange was eliminated by Argentina after penalties. Ron Vlaar and Wesley Sneijder failed from eleven meters. Also in 1998, the Netherlands stranded after penalties in the semi-finals. Phillip Cocu and Ronald de Boer missed against Brazil.
Watch below how Louis van Gaal explains to his players the importance of practicing penalty kicks and his further explanation for the NOS camera.
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