Former Germany midfielder Mehmet Scholl has suggested that Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal made too many mistakes during his side's World Cup campaign.
Scholl, who was a member of the coaching staff when Van Gaal managed Bayern Munich, believes that the 62-year-old was wrong to use substitute goalkeeper Tim Krul in the successful penalty shootout win over Costa Rica in the quarter-final, while also claiming that the players struggled to adopt his tactics.
"Van Gaal wanted to prove that he didn't just get to eat the football cake but the very biggest football cake," the 43-year-old told Bild after Argentina edged past the Netherlands on penalties in Wednesday's semi-final.
"Then the 'god of football' or the Argentinians come and say, 'No wait, you stay here'.
"Changing the goalkeeper was an absurd decision that showed a coach, and he is a great coach, wanting to land a major coup. It came back as a boomerang.
"They lost their style of play during the tournament. They were tactically overloaded and the whole time they were afraid to play the ball up front."
Van Gaal's final game in his current role will be against Brazil in Saturday's third-place playoff.
Callum Mulvihill
