After a last gasp recovery against Mexico saw the Netherlands into the quarter-finals of the World Cup, where they will face either Costa Rica or Greece, coach Louis van Gaal admitted that his side had escaped elimination by the skin of their teeth.
However, after late strikes from Wesley Sneijder and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar turned the match in their favour the Manchester United bound coach insisted that the Oranje had prepared for such a scenario.
“It was an escape,” van Gaal admitted to FIFA.com.
“In the second half we showed that we could create more chances.
“When we had this cooling break, it was when we could start with Plan B.
“I knew we were going to have this cooling break and we trained for this, with Huntelaar and with Dirk Kuyt up front and long deep balls.
“The group of players are very modest and we’re going to continue the road that we have embarked on. We have an outstanding team spirit.
“Whether it’s Greece or Costa Rica, these are very difficult opponents to beat otherwise they wouldn’t have ended up in the quarter-final.”
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