National coach Louis van Gaal will not sit along the line tonight when the Netherlands takes on Norway. According to the General Newspaper the trainer, who is in a wheelchair with a broken hip, takes place in a sky box in De Kuip. From there he will give his assistants Danny Blind and Henk Fraser directions, it sounds like.
The KNVB informs the newspaper that Van Gaal will report to the dressing room of the Dutch national team prior to the match and during halftime. “The skybox is on the side of the Maastribune, close to the changing room, so he doesn’t have to miss anything,” a spokesperson responds. According to the reports, it is too laborious to get Van Gaal in a wheelchair along the field in De Kuip.
Van Gaal leads training the Dutch from golf cart due to accident, Fraser is driver
Van Gaal crashed on Sunday evening after he wanted to put his bike away. The 70-year-old trainer fell on his hip and then paid a visit to the hospital. Surgery is not necessary, the injury should heal on its own. Van Gaal showed up at training in a golf cart on Monday morning and led the training from that vehicle. Assistant coach Henk Fraser drove the cart.
“Physically it is not good, but the brain is still working. I’m in a lot of pain, that’s why I was in a buggy, just like during training,” said Van Gaal at the press conference on Monday afternoon. Because the national coach was unable to join the press moment, he spoke to the press via a video link from the players’ hotel. “I can do anything. There are resources that are made available. It doesn’t look like much, but I think coaching is verbal. I did everything I normally would have done.”
It is not the first time that Van Gaal has ended up in a wheelchair as a trainer. In 2007 he broke his fibula and ankle at a reunion of the ALO (Academy for Physical Education). At the time, Van Gaal landed incorrectly while performing a pole vault exercise. The then AZ trainer followed the match against NEC from a skybox.