After all the talk about much Van Gaal is after taking an uncertain Dutch squad to the World Cup semi-finals and finishing third, one wonders why he didn't bother throwing the dice so to speak against Argentina. After subbing on Tim Krul to star in the penalty shootout that took them to the semi-finals, he bottled it and made the switch to bring on Huntelaar, who then got carded and failed to create any solid goal scoring opportunities. Tongue in cheek (still wonder if had anything to do with needing to leave Rio to start Man United's pre-season early) aside, after making the switch against .
It wasn't just the extra reach that evaded Jasper, but also the positivity. Once he got his head down, he struggled to perform anything close to the three point winning save against Spain in the first game or some of his other notable saves. Krul was 'pumped' against Costa Rica, his confidence over flowing as he made save after save to take his team through. And Holland had nothing to lose. Clearly Jasper wasn't as good at penalties (not all of the goalkeepers at the World Cup have proven themselves as penalty specialists), and Tim offered them a better option.
Jasper seemed to be the man for the 90 minutes; playing as a solid sweeper (the tuck back on show many times to annoy the opposing forward trying to hassle him - looking at you Aguero!) as well as shot stopper (coming out and looking big, like against Spain). But Krul shone in the penalty shootout. As Argentina snuck through with a goalkeeper that has played all of four (yes, four domestic games this season in Ligue 1!), there's always going to be that 'what-if' question mark as to whether Van Gaal could have made the same tactical switch yet again...
It wasn't just the extra reach that evaded Jasper, but also the positivity. Once he got his head down, he struggled to perform anything close to the three point winning save against Spain in the first game or some of his other notable saves. Krul was 'pumped' against Costa Rica, his confidence over flowing as he made save after save to take his team through. And Holland had nothing to lose. Clearly Jasper wasn't as good at penalties (not all of the goalkeepers at the World Cup have proven themselves as penalty specialists), and Tim offered them a better option.
Jasper seemed to be the man for the 90 minutes; playing as a solid sweeper (the tuck back on show many times to annoy the opposing forward trying to hassle him - looking at you Aguero!) as well as shot stopper (coming out and looking big, like against Spain). But Krul shone in the penalty shootout. As Argentina snuck through with a goalkeeper that has played all of four (yes, four domestic games this season in Ligue 1!), there's always going to be that 'what-if' question mark as to whether Van Gaal could have made the same tactical switch yet again...
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