Turkey victory very important for Netherlands, says Van Gaal

8 Sep 2012 07:40:00

The flamboyant trainer was pleased with Oranje's victory, and feels that he did not take any unnecessary risks despite fielding an experimental line-up

Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal has voiced his delight with the hard-fought 2-0 win over Turkey in Friday's 2014 World Cup qualifier at the Amsterdam ArenA.

The Dutch struggled to contain the Turks after grabbing an early lead via Robin van Persie, but they eventually bagged the full three points as Luciano Narsingh put the match to bed well into stoppage time of the second half.

"It was squeaky bum time until we netted that second goal. Turkey are a great team with some very good players, yet we beat them. This is a very important victory," Van Gaal stated to SBS6.

The former Bayern Munich coach opted to field a rather inexperienced team as he left out several regulars - including Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Nigel De Jong, Rafael van der Vaart and Ibrahim Afellay - but Van Gaal does not feel that he took too much of a risk by fielding a number of promising youngsters.

"I do not think that I did anything crazy, but I did expect more from our defence. Bruno Martins Indi and Jetro Willems bounced back after the interval, though. That was rather impressive.

"We created a lot more chances than Turkey and should have decided the match at an earlier stage. That is something we will have to improve on."

Oranje resume match action on Tuesday when they take on Hungary.

Sign up with William Hill for a free bet up to £25
Sign up with bet365 for a free bet up to £200
Sign up to Paddy Power for £250 in free bets

Inside Goal.Com

Player Ratings: Siena 1-2 AC Milan
Goal was on hand to judge all the players as Allegri's men finished third in Serie A and secured a Champions League berth next season
Player Ratings: Barcelona 2-1 Valladolid
Goal rates the players on show as the newly-crowned Liga champions cruised past the challenge of Miroslav Djukic's men to keep up hopes of reaching 100 points
Arsenal hold their nerve in top-four battle
Arsene Wenger's side produced a clinical performance to secure a top-four Premier League finish but now they must kick on if they wish to challenge for honours next year
Player Ratings: Newcastle 0-1 Arsenal
Laurent Koscielny's 52nd-minute volley secured the Gunners the win over Alan Pardew's side and made sure they would be playing Champions League football next season
Player Ratings: West Brom 5-5 Man Utd
Sir Alex Ferguson was given a farewell to remember, but certainly not for the right reasons as the Romelu Lukaku-led hosts battled back from three goals down to earn an unlikely point