BRASILIA: Louis Van Gaal went out as Dutch coach on a typically combative note, grumbling about the ‘FIFA favouritism’ granted to hosts Brazil writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

Van Gaal had achieved his secondary goal of seeing Holland end the World Cup unbeaten for the first time but he had never made any secret of his antipathy to the entire concept of the third place play-off in which goals from Robin Van Persie, Daryl Blind and Georgino Wijnaldum secured a 3-0 win over Brazil.

The circumstance of the match was another provocative issue.

Van Gaal said: “FIFA should ask itself whether you should always give the host country the advantage. I said that before the game as well.

“It’s not easy, within three days [of losing a semi-final] to build up a squad again as we did while Brazil had four days. That’s a big difference so I think the Dutch squad achieved a fantastic performance.”

Asked whether he could achieve such an impact in his next role as Manchester United’s manager, Van Gaal said: “I will do my best and whether that’s enough for the fans we’ll have to wait and see but I genuinely hope that will be the case.

“Certainly I hope the group [of players] in Manchester will become like this one because we have to start singing from the same hymn sheet so all’s well that ends well.”

#############