BRASILIA, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Louis Van Gaal denied the opinion that the third-place play-off against hosts Brazil is meaningless for the Netherlands as the 62-year-old hoped his team could finish the World Cup journey with an unbeaten record which does not include penalty shootout.
Although Holland lost to Argentina by penalty shootout in the semi-final, "the Oranje" kept undefeated in the normal time with 4 wins and 2 draws.
"After the match against Argentina, all of us felt really bad on the coach," said Van Gaal in the pre-match press conference. " But we also realize that something else we need to defend and go for it. Dutch team has never returned home unbeaten and it is our next goal."
"We can still write history because the Netherlands even lost matches in World Cup in 1974 and 1978,"he added. The Netherlands finished second in the 1974, 1978 World Cups.
For Van Gaal,who will take over at Manchester United after the World Cup,the third-place play-off will be his farewell to the Netherlands national team.
"I hope the players could give me a goodbye present in the form of a victory, so that we remain undefeated," Van Gaal said.
Van Gaal admitted that the atmosphere of the team is still full of sadness, and he needed more time to decided the starting line- up for Saturday's match in Brasilia.
"I have to see how the training session goes, and find out who is mentally and physically ready for tomorrow's match," Van Gaal said.