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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 9 JULY 2014 20 20 What does Van Gaal have in store? Dutch coach Louis van Gaal is pondering his next move as the Netherlands take on Lionel Messi's Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals. Van Gaal has so far been spot-on with his tactics and substitutions en route to a desired first world title WHAT will Dutch coach Louis van Gaal pull out of his bag of tricks when his team meets Lionel Messi's Argen- tina in the World Cup semi-finals to- night? All of Van Gaal's decisions in Brazil have been spot-on so far as the Oranje move within two wins of a first World Cup title. He surprised holders Spain with a 5-3-2 formation en route to a stun- ning 5-1 triumph, Klaas-Jan Hunte- laar came on late to turn around the last-16 game against Mexico, and Van Gaal's moves culminated in the quar- ter-finals when he brought on Tim Krul in the dying seconds of extra time for the reserve keeper to make two saves in the deciding penalty shoot-out against Costa Rica. Krul described the expression on the face of the Costa Rica coach when he came on as "priceless," and Argen- tina coach Alejandro Sabella may now be wondering what Van Gaal will be up to in Sao Paulo. A first hint may be the return to training of midfielder Nigel de Jong from what was originally thought to be a tournament-ending injury ahead of the fifth semi-final for a Dutch team. De Jong could now be the main man to contain Messi from an Argentine team which has lost Angel Di Maria with a thigh muscle injury and could as a result depend in an even more un- healthy way on the Barcelona star. The Dutch lost the 1978 World Cup final 3-1 to then hosts Argentina but Krul insists that even if the squad is victorious Wednesday, "We can only speak of revenge if we also win the title." In addition, the Dutch have a posi- tive record against Argentina at the global tournament - including a 4-0 win in 1974 and a last-gasp 2-1 in the 1998 quarter-finals from Dennis Bergkamp's wonder goal. This time around the flair comes from Bayern Munich's Arjen Robben, Manchester United forward Robin Van Persie and Galatasaray's Wesley Snijder, who also serve as role models and mentors for new players including Memphis Depay or Daley Blind. Van Gaal has turned striker Dirk Kuyt into a wing back and not even the mighty Johan Cruyff complained when Van Gaal abandoned the insti- tutionalised 4-3-3 formation for 5-3-2 when needed. He was flexible enough to revert back to 4-3-3 during a late cooling break to salvage victory against Mexi- co, and has even come up with a 3-4-3 when needed. The tactics for Wednesday remain to be seen, but Van Gaal has not been overly impressed with the two-time champions Argentina, who reached the last four thanks to a 1-0 over Bel- gium from Gonzalo Higuain's early goal, and then were "just stopping and slamming on the brakes." "Argentina are an excellent team with strong individual quality players such as Messi. But that was not the case (of Argentina attacking) espe- cially in the first half," he said. Like the Dutch, Argentina have won all their five games in Brazil, but not really impressed apart from the four- goal man Messi who can always make the difference. Sabella has compared Messi's pres- ence to "water in the desert" because "every ball he gets is a reason for hope for all of us, and it is a scary, difficult situation for our rivals." But it will hurt Sabella that Di Maria is out, after the Real Madrid Champi- ons league star recovered from a slow start into the tournament to score the last 16 winner against Switzerland and being lively against Belgium be- fore limping off. Sabella will likely prefer veteran Martin Demichelis in defence again instead of Federico Fernandez. And there was good news as well because Sergio Aguero from English champions Manchester City has re- covered from injury and could return to the line-up in Argentina's fifth semi- final overall and first since 1990. But they don't want to leave it at that and, after winning their opener there 2-1 against Bosnia on June 15, want to return to Rio de Janeiro's Maracana on Sunday for the final against rivals Brazil or Germany. "We attained our first goal, which was to get into the last four, we won all our World Cup matches, and let's hope we can get to the final," Messi said. Influential midfielder Javier Mascherano agreed: "We would be silly to let this chance slip by, because we don't know if we will ever have it again. We are one step away from playing a World Cup final, which is what we all want." Netherlands national soccer team during a training session. Photo by EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH Hard work paying off for Sneijder in new Dutch role The World Cup was in doubt for Wesley Sneijder but the midfield veteran is still a key component of the Dutch side after convincing coach Louis van Gaal with his improved levels of fitness HARD work is paying off for Wesley Sneijder, who has learned to accept a new role in the Dutch team at his third World Cup. He is still a player for the defin- ing pass which made him one of the world's sought-after midfielders and a stand-out for the Netherlands at the last World Cup in 2010 in South Africa. But he has now accepted more de- fensive duties in the Louis van Gaal system without - as he has shown in Brazil - not losing his appetite for scoring. His equalizing goal against Mexico in the 2-1 last-16 victory and two ef- forts against the woodwork against Costa Rica in the quarter-final on Sat- urday were testimony to that. The 30-year-old is one of the impor- tant senior players in the Dutch side which will be in a second successive World Cup final if they can overcome Argentina in Sao Paulo on Wednes- day. Although Sneijder still likes to get forward, he sees attacking team-mates Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben from a greater distance these days. "It took time to get accustomed to the new role I had but now I am very happy. I do everything the coach wants me to," he said. Sneijder's relationship with Van Gaal was not initially the best. The coach was not happy with the attitude and fitness of the Dutch stalwart who made his debut for the Oranje as an 18-year-old. After moving to Turkish side Galatasaray, Sneijder's best days were seemingly over after highly success- ful spells at Real Madrid and Inter Milan. That has all changed, with Sneijder proving he can still compete at the highest levels, even if necessary in conditions of uncomfortable heat and humidity in Brazil. "He was in great physical shape when he arrived here and I was pleas- antly surprised," Van Gaal said before the quarter-final victory on penalties in Salvador against Costa Rica. "He is part of the basic line-up. He is one of the five so-called older players who is leading this team," the coach said, referring also to Van Persie, Rob- ben, Dirk Kuyt and Nigel de Jong. Against Costa Rica, Sneijder was the player who came closest to breaking the deadlock, hitting the post with a free-kick in the second half and thumping a shot against the crossbar in extra-time, before the sides fin- ished goalless. He also saw a first-half free-kick palmed away by Keylor Navas in goal. The number 10 is clearly still a danger with a dead ball. Sneijder also stepped up for the third Dutch goal from the penalty spot in the 4-3 shoot-out win as senior players Van Persie, Robben and Kuyt also took responsibility and scored from the spot. Sneijder had been Dutch captain af- ter Marc van Bommel stepped down, but after just a year he was stripped of the job as Van Gaal handed the armband to Van Persie. Sneijder was dropped for some games, putting his selection for the World Cup squad in doubt. It prompted Sneijder to take a good look at himself and do everything he could to improve his fitness. "If I'm honest the fact that I wasn't being called up any more made me think. From this I have learned some lessons," he said. Sneijder's fitness path was rather unusual, seeking out Dutch-Turkish kickboxing coach Gokhan Saki to im- prove both condition and sharpness. "My eyes were opened," he said. "It was really great and also a lot of fun. For explosivity it's just fantastic. After just a couple of sessions I noticed how effective it was." As an initial reward for the work he won the Turkish cup with Galatasaray, scoring the winning goal in the final in the 1-0 defeat of Eskisehirspor. The Ajax youth academy product has league titles in four countries - Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Turkey, plus a Champions League title with Inter, and has already reached some milestones in Brazil. He won his 100th cap in the 5-1 rout of Spain in the Netherlands' opening World Cup game, and played a Dutch record 15th World Cup match against Mexico. The 2014 World Cup could be his crowning glory, helping also to erase memories of the losing final to Spain in Johannesburg four years ago.