Georginio Wijnaldum makes his real breakthrough in the Dutch national team at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil with Louis van Gaal as national coach. Seven years later, their paths cross again. The midfielder of Paris Saint-Germain has a good feeling about the renewed collaboration with Van Gaal, who is for the selection of the Dutch for the third time. Although there were also moments when Wijnaldum had to get used to his approach.
“I can remember a training that he was very close to me. That I got the feeling that everything was focused on me,” says Wijnaldum in conversation with The Telegraph. “In the small games, the national coach kept yelling that I had to switch. Then I let myself go for a while and the national coach took me aside to explain why he did it this way.”
Wijnaldum played in the base of the the Dutch squad at the 2014 World Cup and then never left, except for some minor injury periods. Van Gaal was initially not completely convinced of the midfielder. “I remember that I had to come for an interview in the national coach’s room and that I was told there that I would play in the third group match against Chile. “You are going to play in the place of De Guzman,” said the national coach. “I don’t know if you can fill that position well.”
“I don’t think so myself, but Danny Blind (the assistant national coach, ed.) is confident that you will do well. And I trust my assistant.” Wijnaldum’s counter, who turns 31 in November, now stands at 79 international matches. A career as an A-international with highs and lows, such as the elimination against the Czech Republic in the eighth finals of the European Championship. Wijnaldum has put a lot of thought into why it happened this way. “We didn’t handle the difficult situations we encountered well, such as the warmth and the style of the Czechs, who fought one-on-one duels all over the field.”
“We didn’t solve that as a team, but everyone tried to solve it for themselves.” The unfamiliarity with the 5-3-2 system chosen by then national coach Frank de Boer was also one of the reasons. “That was new for us. Most guys are more used to 4-3-3. We had a crash course in 5-3-2, but quite a few players hadn’t played it before. Of course things will go wrong.” He’s not saying it’s a bad system. “It worked well at the 2014 World Cup, but then we had more time to practice it.”