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” I Used My Players Girl Friends to Deal With Spain” Van Gaal

Louis van Gaal let his Holland players have time with their wives and girlfriends – then watched them rip Spain apart.

Van Gaal allowed the Dutch squad’s wives, girlfriends and families to visit them at their team hotel in Salvador twice before they faced Spain.

And the visit from loved ones clearly did the trick as Holland subjected the World Cup holders to their heaviest defeat since 1951.

Van Gaal revealed he sanctioned the visit from wives and girlfriends and said: “My principle is the overall picture. The total person. The player.

“His brain and his psyche plays a part. And the psyche is influenced by his environment.

“So on Thursday and this morning I gave permission for the wives to visit the hotel and so the players could be happy.

“But that doesn’t mean this is the reason for our victory.

“I told the players I would make sure there would be points in time where the wives and families would visit them.”

Van Gaal said his players cannot afford to get ahead of themselves, despite their emphatic win.

“We have enough players who will make sure that we don’t lose ourselves in euphoria,” said van Gaal.

“We played in a fantastic way, compact football. We used our centre-forwards perfectly.”

Van Gaal said Holland can get even better. “Yes, we can get better, without a shadow of a doubt,” said the incoming Manchester United boss.

“You could see this in the last 20 minutes when we started to play the ball around with confidence.

“Then you could see how good these players can be. This result gives them confidence and I expect them to get better.”