A month has not passed since coach Louis van Gaal‘s Dutch team lost the Euro semi-final to England. However, it is unclear if this loss has shaken the Dutch boss since he has yet to move on from the 2022 World Cup loss against Lionel Messi‘s Argentina. Van Gaal recently spoke about his prostate cancer diagnosis on a talk show. While doing so, the ex-Netherlands manager recalled the World Cup shock at one point and claimed that the referee who oversaw the WC quarter-final was biased toward Argentina. Interestingly, this comes after the 72-year-old openly said the Qatar World Cup was rigged for Leo Messi.

Argentina vs Netherlands at the World Cup is the peak of international football. After a classic semi-final in 2014, the two sides met in the quarter in 2022 and rendered an intense 2-2 thriller that went to penalties. But nobody thought this World Cup classic, nicknamed ‘Battle of Lusail,’ would become a modern-era soccer controversy.

What are van Gaal’s recent complaints about the World Cup loss to Lionel Messi and Co.?

During his recent appearance on RTL Talkshow, Louis van Gaal detailed his battle with prostate cancer since 2021. Unsurprisingly, the veteran boss spoke about going to the World Cup while battling the malady. And the conversation ventured into the infamous quarter-final against Lionel Messi’s side. “We were robbed by the referee vs Argentina. The facts are there. I can show you the videos,” said van Gaal. Thereafter, he once again dragged dirt on Argentina’s Leandro Paredes who kicked the ball to the Netherlands bench during the World Cup tie.

“You think it’s normal a player of Argentina can hit the ball against our bench without getting a red? And then there was the penalty we conceded,” the Dutch boss added. As it happened, Paredes fouled the Netherlands’ Nathan Ake in the 88th minute and kicked the ball to the Dutch bench. Dutch skipper Virgil van Dijk stormed to the scene and shoved Paredes down leading to a scuffle on the sidelines.

Van Gaal’s lament about the penalty is a reference to Leo Messi’s goal from the spot, which the former thinks was wrongly granted. Anyhow, Messi, that night, spiced it up after pulling Argentina legend Riquelme’s celebration. Riquelme and the Dutch coach notably had a sour past in Barcelona. Since there is so much to this World Cup fiasco, you must be thinking about how Argentina and FIFA responded to van Gaal’s claims. We have you covered.

Angel Di Maria and FIFA’s response to van Gaal’s ‘rigged’ claims

In September 2023, the 72-year-old coach said FIFA wanted Lionel Messi to win the World Cup. Just like he said now, he told the media in 2023 that the refereeing was biased towards Argentina and the game was “premeditated.” Anyhow, these comments did nothing to shake the Argentina camp. Legendary forward Angel Di Maria laughed at the Dutch coach by posting a laughing emoji on X in response to a post about the World Cup being rigged.

Meanwhile, in a cheeky move, FIFA released on X a video of Argentina’s iconic moments from the triumphant 2022 World Cup, while van Gaal’s comments were doing rounds on the web. “2022 belonged to Argentina,” FIFA wrote in its caption for the post. Now let’s see if the Argentina camp and FIFA come up with similar sly digs, as the Dutch boss has reignited the Battle of Lusail controversy.