Van Gaal happy with Netherlands win

Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal could not hide his excitement with the team’s performance against Romania, which he described as the best he has seen since being appointed as manager in July.

Netherlands retained 100 per cent record of their World Cup qualifying campaign as they hammered Romania 4-0 thanks to two goals from Robin Van Persie. The Oranje are currently topping the table, 10 points clear of their closest rivals.

Louis van Gaal, who replaced Bert van Marwijk in charge of Netherlands following the disappointing Euro 2012 campaign, was full of praise to his players. He said: “I thought it was the best match in this period under me. Only in the third quarter were we sloppy but Romania created just this one chance. But beyond that quarter we have done what we had agreed. And there you have the result. I have said that we are (taking) more steps and we have to believe in ourselves.”

“Van Persie was very unlucky in the first half but in the second half he was actually very happy. He scored an incredible world-class goal - it was a ball he could barely head but he deliberately hit it into the top corner. And the penalty he placed well inside (the goal). He was also a great target man which you saw with his first goal. And Van der Vaart also put his shot in flawlessly. And everyone contributed. Lens was also involved in two goals. And I’m not even talking about the defensive organization,” he added.