Netherlands head coach Louis van Gaal brushed off the critics of his pragmatic style after his side reached the World Cup quarter-finals with a 3-1 win over the United States on Saturday.
Goals from Memphis Depay, Daley Blind and Denzel Dumfries clinched the Oranje’s progress to the last eight where they will face Argentina.
But there has been criticism of Van Gaal’s style which the Dutchman swept aside when asked if their results deserved respect.
“I get enough appreciation from the people around me,” Van Gaal told reporters.
“I know the media don’t always report in a positive way, it’s a given in football, but some top countries didn’t progress, we still have three matches to go.
“We can become world champion. I am not saying that we will, but that we can.”
Meanwhile, in-form 23-year-old Cody Gakpo refused to be drawn post-game on speculation about his club future.
The PSV Eindhoven winger has been linked with Manchester United and Real Madrid after scoring three goals in the three group games.
“To be honest, I’m not thinking about that now, I’m really focused on the tournament,” Gakpo said.
“I try to keep performing well, keep helping the team, hopefully when we become world champion we can think about it.”
When asked if the talk was a distraction, he added: “No not really because I just keep trying to stay focused, and the other players don’t really talk about this sort of thing, and they help me also in this situation.”
