Van Gaal deems Netherlands champion's material despite pundits’ doubts

Netherlands boss Louis van Gaal recently predicted his team to become World Cup winners, and it seems that he is sticking with that statement even though they were far from their best in the 1-1 draw with Ecuador.

Although the 

have garnered 4 points in their first two matches against

and

, they have yet to book a place in the last-16 of the tournament.

"I hope this is no pressure at all, because I think you always have to identify the goal, the purpose for which you are here,"

he said.

"Then you can work towards that purpose.

"If you don't identify that purpose and say the quarter-finals is enough, that is not the right way to do things. The right thing is to say you want to become champions.

"I set out the reasons why we can become champions. I didn't say we would become champions, but we can. The players believe in that."

It seems that van Gaal’s sentiments are shared within Oranje squad as well, with Frankie de Jong sharing similar thoughts on Monday, saying:

"I think we have an excellent squad. We have demonstrated that on more than enough occasions.

"We are 17 matches unbeaten, that is telling. We have four points, and we played two excellent opponents. We're well positioned despite the fact the last match we didn't play as well as we could.

"We talked a lot in the squad about what we want to do, what we want to improve. Everyone is full of confidence, so it's up to us to show you."

Van Gaal didn’t seem fazed by the possibility of finishing second in the group and getting a harder draw, should they fail to finish off Qatar in the last match.

"If you want to become a world champion, you will have to be capable of beating everyone," van Gaal said. "Particularly those countries you don't suspect will progress very far, they are progressing or making it difficult."

Former Manchester United manager went on to praise his stars Cody Gakpo and Memphis Depay, caliming that they will need Memphis Depay “to become world champion”.

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