sport news IAN HERBERT: Holland torn over legendary manager Louis van Gaal trends now
Where Louis van Gaal walks, there is always drama and generally conflict.
He was a few days into his first pre-season tour with Manchester United when he publicly questioned Luke Shaw's diet and hammered Phil Jones' technique in an open training session.
When it comes to 'Louis' – a wonderful documentary of the man, heading for Netflix - we find him in a wheelchair in the back of a van, hours after his Dutch team qualify for the World Cup by beating Norway. He has fallen off his bicycle after skidding on autumn leaves.
Legendary Holland manager Louis van Gaal (pictured) is adored by his players, not the fans
The van runs over a speed bump. Van Gaal, in agony, complains bitterly about the Dutch road network.
He could have been forgiven for being through with these incessant battles. The 71-year-old is partially deaf in his left ear and has been undergoing surgery for prostate cancer.
He reflects in the film that some of the injections he has received 'completely wipes out the libido' and describes quite brutally the consequences of a catheter - 'it doesn't help you want to make love' – before moving the conversation on. 'But let's continue with golf, as it's getting rather intimate...'
The 71-year-old is partially deaf in his left ear and has been undergoing surgery for cancer
He hadn't worked for five years before the Dutch football federation came calling for a third time last year but couldn't resist, despite the supplications of his wife and golf partner, Truus. And as day follows night, the conflict has come.
At the heart of it is the country's deep obsession with its football aesthetic. To quote one Dutch writer, it is Van Gaal's resolve to sacrifice 'beauty for results' which has left the Dutch nation in a state of angst ahead a quarter final rich in history, against Argentina, tomorrow/on Friday.
Divisions between 'pragmatists and puritans' - as Patrick van IJzendoorn, of the respected broadsheet Volksrant, defines it - have, if nothing else, been the catalyst for some beautiful lyricism from a Dutch school of sportswriters who view the Oranje as a form of identity.
Dutch fans are not convinced by the former Manchester United manager's pragmatic style
The veteran analyst Jan Mulder said he found Netherlands matches an 'endless, heaven-defying visitation'. After 15 minutes he leaves the living room to get some fresh air in the Groningen cold. Otherwise he won't make it through to the end.
The Dutch play this tournament 'with the predictability of the opening hours of the Swiss bank' observed another writer.
'The balloon of the cartoon about this contest could read: zzzzz.' Marco van Basten, Rafael van der Vaart and Maarten Stekelenburg are
