The former Dutch coach is still irked by how things went down in the World Cup quarterfinal
Former Netherlands head coach Louis van Gaal has charged that the World Cup was rigged so Lionel Messi and Argentina would win.
Messi finally lifted the game’s biggest prize in December, as Argentina defeated France on penalties in the World Cup final.
On its way to World Cup glory, Argentina got past the Netherlands on penalties in a contentious quarterfinal that ended 2-2. Following the game, Messi and Van Gaal had words on the sideline in what appeared to be an acrimonious exchange.
Nine months after the game and his subsequent resignation as Netherlands coach, it was clear that Van Gaal is still rather bitter about how things went down that night at the Lusail Stadium.
“I do not really want to say much about it,” Van Gaal told reporters on Tuesday. “When you see how Argentina scored their goals and how we scored our goals, and how some Argentina players overstepped the mark and were not punished, then I think it was all a premeditated game.”
Asked what he meant Van Gaal replied: “I mean everything I said.”
Van Gaal was then asked if he was saying that Messi was predetermined to be world champion.
After Van Gaal’s comments, Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk said he did not agree with his former manager.
“I heard it this morning, indeed. And that’s actually it,” the defender told NOS. “It is of course his opinion. Everyone is allowed to have an opinion. I do not share the same opinion.”
Ironically, after the game in December it was Messi and his teammate Emiliano MartĂnez who were fuming at referee Mateu Lahoz, of whom Messi said: âFIFA has to review it. They canât put a referee who is not up to the task in this instance.â
MartĂnez added: âThe ref was just giving everything for them. He gave 10 minutes [stoppage time]. For no reason, 10 minutes. He was giving free kicks outside the box for them, like two, three times. He just wanted them to score, thatâs basically it. So hopefully we donât have that ref anymore, heâs useless.â
When Gregg Berhalter released his World Cup roster last fall, many observers â including this very website â counted Jordan Pefok among the biggest snubs.
The Union Berlin striker was off to a hot start in the Bundesliga, tallying four goals and three assists by the time the roster was released.
Though many were quick to suggest Berhalter had made a mistake, one person thought the coach was totally justified: Pefok’s own mother.
Though he says his mom “knows nothing about football,” Pefok adds that she knew enough to look at his U.S. national team stats and conclude he hadn’t done enough to warrant inclusion.
“[Berhalter] called me and told me that he was not going to call me up for the World Cup. The first two days, it was tough,” Pefok told ESPN. “Then I spoke to my mum. She knows nothing about football. She asked me: ‘Are you sick?’ No. ‘Are your brothers and sisters sick?’ No. ‘Am I sick?’ No. ‘Do you have money issues?’ No. ‘So what’s the issue then?’ It put everything in context and perspective then.
“I sat down, I was still cross, but she was right. She added: ‘I know nothing about football but I know that you went with the national team and you only scored one goal. Even if I was the national team head coach, I would not have called you up! A goal scorer has to score goals, that’s all.’ She was brutal. The disappointment went away and I started working hard again to make sure that I play at the 2026 World Cup at home. I will prepare well and do everything I can with Union to make sure that I am there in 2026.”
Pefok, who was most recently called up in March 2022, has scored one USMNT goal in nine appearances. For a women who doesn’t know anything about the game, Pefok’s mom does know a subpar strike rate when she sees one.
Hopefully Pefok at least reminded his mom that of his nine caps, only two of them were starts.
Argentina just wanted to party, Panama wanted to maim the guest of honor
Argentina played Panama on Thursday in what was nominally a friendly, but really just an excuse to celebrate their World Cup title on home soil.
But nobody told the Canaleros they were there for a party, which was evidenced when they tried to maim the guest of honor in the first half.
Just 15 minutes into the match at Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires, Lionel Messi was dribbling the ball 10 yards outside the box when Panama’s Jose Murillo went in for a challenge from behind.
Simultaneously, Panama defender Kevin GalvĂĄn flew in with as reckless of a two-footer as you’ll ever see.Â
amonestado Kevin GalvĂĄn en Panama por una fuerte patada a Lionel Messi đĄđĄđĄ pic.twitter.com/rGsFsLDm3G
Not that this challenge would ever be acceptable, but on this night, on this player? Read the room, Kevin!
Somehow, Messi escaped with just a bloody knee and GalvĂĄn with only a yellow card.
Messi, as he usually does, would have the last laugh, scoring a picture-perfect free kick late in the game to mark his 800th career goal and cap off a 2-0 win.
The real scenes, though, took place before the game. Now this is how to celebrate a World Cup win.
From 2:50 onwards, I swear, I have never seen anything like this before. Argentina, best fans in the world. đŠđ·pic.twitter.com/9rCdZ2hs2v
Messi, who also scored in the final, recounted the incredible match in an interview with PSG TV.
“It really was a breathtaking final. It was crazy how the match went,” Messi said. “Kylian scored three incredible goals, in a final! Not being able to be champion after that was crazy.
“But he’s already won it too, and he knows what it’s like to be world champion. So yes, it was a great final for the football world. And now it’s true that it’s nice to be able to play in the same team with him, and I hope we can do great things here in Paris.”
By his standards, Messi’s debut season with PSG was far below expectations. But this season Messi has returned to form, saying that he needed time to adjust to a new team and new country in the 2021-22 campaign.
“Yes, it’s true that I feel very well,” he said. “The first year, I needed a little time to adapt to Paris for different reasons, but I started this season really differently, with a lot of desire.
“I feel more comfortable with the club, with the city, with everything that Paris means. And the truth is that I am really enjoying this season. I think my whole life has been like that.
“About dedication, work, effort and wanting more every day. I’ve arrived at a new club and I want to win the title with Paris, to be able to achieve the big goals we set ourselves at the beginning of the season.”
Running onto the field with a rainbow flag in Qatar is certainly a risky move
There’s being a pitch invader, and then there’s being a pitch invader with a rainbow flag at the World Cup in Qatar.
During the second half of Portugal’s game against Uruguay, a man ran onto the pitch waving said rainbow flag, wearing a shirt that had messages on either side: “Save Ukraine” on the front and “Respect For Iranian Women” on the back.
The pitch invader’s shirt was in reference to the ongoing war in Ukraine after Russia’s invasion earlier this year, as well as the women-led protests against the government that continue to engulf Iran.
AP Photo/Abbie Parr)(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Three security guards eventually manhandled the pitch invader and escorted him off the field.
After the man ran onto the field, the world feed that every country uses to broadcast the tournament only showed him briefly. On the Fox broadcast in the United States, announcers John Strong and Stu Holden went silent for nearly a minute after Strong said: “The play will be stopped here because someone who has come onto the field.”
Questions about soccer were rare. Airing of grievances was the order of the day
AL-RAYYAN, Qatar â In hindsight, the tenor of things was revealed from the moment Carlos Queiroz and Karim Ansarifard received a hearty round of applause as they strode into the wood-paneled auditorium deep inside the Qatari National Convention Centre.
That was just the start of an antagonistic and deeply surreal press conference.
The room that hosted both teams’ pregame availability one day ahead of the enormous â Ansarifard politely called it âa very sensitive gameâ â United States vs. Iran World Cup match was almost full, with representatives of US, Iranian and overseas journalists alike. Only one of those groups was clapping for Team Melli’s manager and striker, though.
An urbane, charismatic presence, Quieroz has led the Iranian side for most of the past decade. And his back-and-forth with Iran’s press pack â most of it hailing from state-affiliated outlets â flashed the cleverness by which he has endeared himself to so many across the nation without antagonizing the complex network of political factors that affect so much of high-level sports in the Islamic Republic.
While he did not utter the words “stick to sports,” that message was crystal clear.
âIf after 42 years in this game as a coach, I still believe that I could win games with those mental games, I think I did not learn anything about the game. And this is not the case,â said Queiroz when asked about allegations of gamesmanship and skulduggery by the U.S. and Jurgen Klinsmann ahead of this fixture. âThose collective set of events that are surrounding this World Cup, I hope it will be a good lesson for all of us in the future. And that in the next event, we’ll be learning that our mission here is to create entertainment. And at least during 90 minutes, make the people happy.
That was likely music to the ears of both Iranian and Qatari government officials infuriated by media coverage of the ongoing human-rights protests that have roiled the streets of Iran for months, with hundreds reportedly killed and thousands arrested in state reprisals. Or the host nation’s questionable track record with migrant labor, laws criminalizing homosexuality and widespread reports of corruption around the awarding of this tournament.
It certainly drew another loud ovation from the Iranian press, who clapped a third time when Queiroz and Ansarifard left the room, with a FIFA official not offering any of the women journalists in the room a chance to pose a question.
(AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
The reception given to USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter and captain Tyler Adams a little under an hour later was drastically different.
âTomorrow, perhaps it’s going to be the most sensitive game of this Cup,â an Iranian journalist stated in the second question of the United States’ presser. âIf we made a survey of the whole world, what percentage of the population of the world will be happy because of the win of the national team of Iran, and what percentage of the whole population of the world will be happy because of the United States soccer team wins?
âI know that a lot of other constituents have another feeling towards it. But for us, it’s a soccer game against a good team. And it’s not much more than that,â said Berhalter. âIt’s a knockout game, both teams want to go to the next round, both teams are desperate to go to the next round. And that’s how we’re looking at this match. We’re very focused on what we could do as a team, as are they. And we think it’s going to be a good soccer game.â
The questions posed by Iranians grew more and more strident. After Adams offered a seemingly earnest declaration of support for âIran’s people and Iran’s team,â but added that his team is âlaser focusedâ on securing the victory that will see them through to the knockout stages, another journalist called out his mispronunciation of the country’s name (Adams said I-ran rather than eee-ron).
Then he asked the USMNT captain if he was âOK to be representing a country that has so much discrimination against Black people in its own borders?â and where âthere’s so much discrimination happening against Black people in America.â
Adams was measured in his response.
âMy apologies on the mispronunciation of your country,â said the 23-year-old midfielder. âThat being said, there’s discrimination everywhere you go. One thing that I’ve learned, especially from living abroad in the past years, and having to fit in in different cultures and kind of assimilate into different cultures, is that in the U.S., we’re continuing to make progress every single day. Growing up for me, I grew up in a white family with obviously an African-American heritage and background as well.
âSo I had a little bit of different cultures, and I was very easily able to assimilate in different cultures. So not everyone has that ease and the ability to do that. And obviously, it takes longer to understand and through education, I think it’s super important. Like you just educated me now on the pronunciation of your country. So yeah, it’s a process, I think. As long as you see progress, that’s the most important thing.â
đïž La rueda de prensa mĂĄs incĂłmoda de lo que llevamos de Mundial.
đ„ Tyler Adams contestĂł una de las preguntas a un periodista iranĂ sobre el racismo en Estados Unidos.
The queries from Iranian reporters ran the gamut of their nation’s frustrations with the United States government and its foreign policy.
“Why is it that you do not ask your government to take away its military fleet from the Persian Gulf?”
âIt seems the U.S. media have also started the mind games and attack like England and U.K. [media], we have never seen in sports that something like this has happened.â
âI’ve been in New York about two months ago, and there was no support to your team [due to] the high rise of inflation and economic problems. Do you think the American people support your team and you?â
âHow is your reaction when I tell you U.S. passport [holders], they can be welcome to Iran anytime, and they can visit anywhere in Iran. But the same time Iranian passport, they can’t enter USA or United States lands, otherwise they have to make some problems?â
âJurgen Klinsmann and his offense to head coach of Iran, Mr. Queiroz, he was starting psychological warfare to Iran or not?â
On and on went the fusillade of grievance, with Iranian journalists making clear that their members see great unfairness being inflicted on their team and its nation, leaving Adams and Berhalter nonplussed.
âI don’t know enough about politics. I’m a soccer coach,â Berhalter said at one point. âAnd I’m not well-versed on international politics.â
It was a surreal moment, and underlined â if the USMNT could possibly have any remaining doubt â just how many layers of meaning and controversy have been layered atop this zero-sum match.
âSports is a huge opportunity to bring people together,â Adams said. âWe continue to show our support and our empathy for what’s obviously happening to the Iranian team and the people. That being said, we do have a game to focus on.â
Brazil may feel Neymar’s absence as the tournament goes on if he’s unable to recover but on Monday, they gave us a reminder that they are still Brazil.
After all, how many teams at this tournament can turn to their defensive midfielder to score a winner as pure as Casemiro’s against the Swiss?
The European side frustrated Brazil through 83 minutes of the match at Stadium 974, with the favored Selecao seeing a second-half goal from VinĂcius Jr. waved off due to an offside call.
But as the game entered its final minutes, Casemiro got on the end of a clever flicked pass from Rodrygo and surprised everyone with a quick half-volley that flew into the far corner.
That would be all Brazil needed on the night in a 1-0 victory that took them into the last 16 for an incredible 14th straight tournament. As long as the Selecao keep producing defensive-minded players who can strike a ball this pure, that streak will likely continue.
The legendary boxer was set off by a post-game video of Messi in the dressing room
Canelo Ălvarez is a boxer, after all, so perhaps its not so surprising that he’s looking for a fight.
But the target of Ălvarez’s fury is a bit more eye-opening: Lionel Messi, perhaps the greatest soccer player ever. What did Messi do to Ălvarez? Far less than you’d imagine for the fury the Mexican boxer unleashed on Twitter in the aftermath of his country’s World Cup loss to Argentina.
Messi was front and center in Saturday’s high-profile clash at Lusail Stadium, scoring the winner his side desperately needed in a 2-0 victory over El Tri.
In the aftermath of the win Argentina celebrated wildly in their dressing room and in the midst of those celebrations, Messi was seen giving the tiniest of kicks to a Mexico jersey he apparently obtained in a post-game jersey exchange.
Seriously, this kick was nearly non-existent, and also probably accidental.
Canelo had some strong words for Messi after seeing his locker room celebration đ
But that was enough to draw the ire of the boxing legend, who went on Twitter not just to express his displeasure but to not-so-vaguely threaten one of the greatest players of all time.
âDid you see Messi cleaning the floor with our shirt and flag????â Ălvarez tweeted.
âHe better pray to God that I donât find him!!â Ălvarez added in another tweet. âJust like I respect Argentina, he has to respect Mexico! Iâm not talking about the country as a whole, just about the bâââââââ that Messi pulled.â
Naturally, some of Messi’s former teammates rushed to his defense, including former Argentina star Sergio Aguero.
âMr. Canelo, donât look for excuses or problems, surely you donât know about football and what happens in a changing room,” the retired striker tweeted.
âThe shirts are always on the floor after games have finished due to sweat and then if you look properly, he makes the movement to remove his boot and accidentally hits it.â
Former Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas chimed in on Twitter, saying: “You don’t know this person, nor do you know how a dressing room works or what happens after a game. ALL shirts, including the ones we use ourselves, go on the floor and are washed afterward, even more so when you are celebrating an important victory.”
There is plenty of time for other World Cup controversies to overtake this one as the most inane (and obviously this one’s in a different category than some of the more consequential stuff), but the bar has certainly been set high.
The 22-year-old is looking like one of the World Cup’s breakout stars
Mohammed Kudus came to this World Cup full of confidence. Two games in, it’s easy to see why.
Kudus has been one of the breakout stars in the early going, tallying an assist for Ghana in an opening loss to Portugal before scoring a pair of goals in a wild 3-2 win over South Korea on Monday.
The 22-year-old playmaker netted a first-half header to give his side a 2-0 lead. But South Korea struck back in the second half, with Cho Gue-sung scoring two quick goals to equalize.
Kudus was not done, however, and he swept home a 68th-minute goal to complete his brace and give Ghana the winner it so desperately needed after falling in its opener.
2 – At 22 years and 118 days old, Mohammed Kudus is the second youngest African player to score two goals in a World Cup match, after Ahmed Musa (21y 254d) for Nigeria against Argentina in 2014. Kudos. pic.twitter.com/4xkKDkJQLH
Prior to the World Cup, Kudus told The Guardian of Neymar, a player he and his teammates could see in the knockout round: “Heâs not better than me. Heâs just a higher profile player, thatâs all,â
Kudus has made a name for himself at Ajax after his 2020 arrival from Danish side NordsjĂŠlland. The 22-year-old operates as a No. 10 who is equally comfortable scoring goals or creating them. His exploits in the Netherlands has led to interest from big clubs abroad, which will only be amplified by his first two games in Qatar.
Kudus knows he hasn’t reached the heights that Neymar has during his career. But he’s making steady progress and as his first two World Cup games have shown, it may not be a good idea to bet against him.
“What makes [Neymar] better, for now, is that he has achieved a lot,” Kudus said. Iâll get there soon.â
The architect of Project 2010 is now trying to end project 2022
AL-RAYYAN, Qatar â A savvy, charismatic, multi-national polyglot with a fascination for the particularities of the American spirit: One could make the case that Carlos Queiroz was American soccerâs Jurgen Klinsmann before Jurgen Klinsmann was.
While Klinsmann has been a constant presence in the nationâs footballing consciousness for more than a decade thanks to his television commentary work and time in charge of the U.S. menâs national team that followed, the Portuguese manager was a quietly influential figure on the domestic scene before the turn of the century.
Though he would become a globetrotting coach with an array of high-powered destinations on his resume, Queiroz maintained U.S. ties through a network of colleagues and relationships that stretches from New York to Chicago to Manchester to Tehran and, eventually, to Doha today.
Here he leads Iran into a massive World Cup match with the USMNT on Tuesday, with Group Bâs results pitting the longtime geopolitical antagonists in a zero-sum situation for advancement to the tournamentâs knockout stages. The Yanks need a win at Al Thumama Stadium to reach the round of 16, while a draw would be enough to see Team Melli through.
In several ways, Queirozâs ideas served as a sort of Rosetta Stone for the dramatic evolution of the player development pathway that produced so many members of the current USMNT squad. He arrived stateside in the spring of 1996 to take over the coaching duties of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars during Major League Soccerâs inaugural season.
âI realized immediately the great potential of United States soccer,â Queiroz told Soccer America in 2018. âWhat I found was the beginning of a huge project to create and help develop soccer in the United States.â
Not long after, the U.S. Soccer Federation launched Project 2010, an ambitious big-picture plan to orient multiple levels of the sport towards the pursuit of excellence in time to compete for the trophy at that yearâs World Cup.
Federation leaders, mindful of his past role in cultivating Portugalâs âgolden generation,â tabbed Queiroz and his friend and colleague Dan Gaspar to provide âan independent look at the landscape here with a third-party point of view,â as Sunil Gulati would later put it.
Its general outline was released just before France 1998, where the USMNTâs woebegone last-place performance delivered a painful reality check.
The 113-page âQ reportâ wasnât exactly implemented in full. Yet its concepts helped lay the groundwork for innovations like the U.S. Soccer Development Academy youth league, upgraded coaching education structures and a national talent scouting network.
In fact, the federation was impressed enough that tentative plans were mooted for Queiroz to take over the USMNT after Steve Sampsonâs departure, although that never came to pass. He would go on to manage Real Madrid, work alongside Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and lead a diverse list of national teams from Portugal to South Africa.
Nowhere did he build a legacy quite like with Iran. Heâs led Team Melli at three consecutive World Cups across two stints in charge, and is now just one positive result away from steering them into the knockout stages for the first time ever.
(Photo by MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP)
A hard-charging personality who’s said to thrive on four hours of sleep a night, Queiroz has earned the loyalty of fans and players while managing to walk the tightrope required in the treacherous, politicized environment of Iranian sports, a domain government officials often involve themselves in.
Heâs also drawn headlines for his outspoken defenses of his players, who are under a microscope in Qatar, just across the Persian Gulf from Iran. Huge numbers of supporters on both sides of the political divide are flocking to their matches while the human-rights protests and deadly government reprisals that have roiled their homeland since September loom large.
Making sure to note Klinsmannâs perceived âGerman/Americanâ allegiances, Queiroz called his remarks âprejudiced,â âoutrageousâ and âa disgrace to footballâ before calling on him to resign from his position on FIFAâs Technical Study Group.
Klinsmann responded that his words were âtaken completely wrongâ and âtaken out of context,â suggesting that his past role in charge of the USMNT had led Iranians to see him as a provocateur and pledging to get in touch with Queiroz and âcalm things down.â The subsequent controversy over U.S. Soccerâs use of an altered Iran flag with the symbols of its hardline Islamic government removed has only roiled the waters further.
âIt is unique. It is something different,â said U.S. defender Tim Ream on Sunday in a tense press conference attended by media from both nations. âBut at the same time, we’re all human, we understand that there are things going on that are out of our control. And so that’s where we find ourselves. Again, we understand and empathize with the Iranian people. And at the end of the day, we are still having to focus on what is our job.â
It all shapes Tuesday into a metaphorical powder keg, as well as an on-field scenario that favors Queiroz, known for his organized, defensively resilient tactics. If the Yanks are unable to dig out the victory they require to reach the round of 16, theyâll have been undone by an adversary who knows them and their soccer culture just about as well as any opposing manager could.
