It is hard enough losing in the Final of a FIFA World Cup™, but it seems to be a particularly cruel twist of fate to kick off your next final tournament bid against the team that denied you the coveted Trophy says Dutch Coach van Gaal. What's more, whoever qualifies from Group B – a section with a heavy South Africa 2010 flavour – could find themselves facing host nation Brazil in the Round of 16. Here is how the four head coaches involved see the task ahead:
You can’t really do anything about it, but it's fair to say that it's not a good draw for us. We will play Spain, the reigning world champions; Australia, who we have never beaten; and Chile. But I’ve already played against Spain before, in my first spell as Netherlands coach. We played them in Seville and won, so why shouldn’t we beat them again? (Smiles) But well, Holland are ninth in the FIFA Ranking and Spain are first, so who do you think are favourites? Of course, it’ll be a replay of the 2010 Final. Chile will be difficult, they’ve got players like Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal… they’re a very tough team to beat. I saw them play against Colombia when they went 3-0 up and they showed that they are a good team. If we qualify we could end up meeting Brazil, the tournament favourites, [in the Round of 16] which makes the task even more difficult. So, it's not the best of draws from a Dutch perspective: I would have preferred Group H. We do not have a lot of time to prepare either after arriving in Brazil, so it's also a bad draw in that respect.
Read more: Official FIFA World Cup™ Tickets - Apply for tickets - FIFA.com:
You can’t really do anything about it, but it's fair to say that it's not a good draw for us. We will play Spain, the reigning world champions; Australia, who we have never beaten; and Chile. But I’ve already played against Spain before, in my first spell as Netherlands coach. We played them in Seville and won, so why shouldn’t we beat them again? (Smiles) But well, Holland are ninth in the FIFA Ranking and Spain are first, so who do you think are favourites? Of course, it’ll be a replay of the 2010 Final. Chile will be difficult, they’ve got players like Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal… they’re a very tough team to beat. I saw them play against Colombia when they went 3-0 up and they showed that they are a good team. If we qualify we could end up meeting Brazil, the tournament favourites, [in the Round of 16] which makes the task even more difficult. So, it's not the best of draws from a Dutch perspective: I would have preferred Group H. We do not have a lot of time to prepare either after arriving in Brazil, so it's also a bad draw in that respect.
Read more: Official FIFA World Cup™ Tickets - Apply for tickets - FIFA.com:
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