Louis van Gaal hits back at praise of 'sparkling' Brazil

Louis van Gaal has said claims from the press that Brazil play 'sparkling' football are incorrect.

Brazil are now seen as the team to beat at the World Cup following their 4-1 victory over South Korea in the last 16.

The Selecao were on fire in the first half of that match, grabbing all of their goals in the first 45 minutes and producing some excellent football.

They've been widely praised for that football all over the world, including in the Netherlands by the same press that have heavily criticised the style Van Gaal has his team playing in.

The Netherlands manager isn't best pleased by this, claiming the two teams actually play similar, counter-attacking football.

"I've seen them, that's just a counter team," he told NOS.

"I read in the Dutch media that it was sparkling, but that is just a counter team. South Korea has only attacked."

Brazil have already produced two contenders for the best goal so far this tournament, with Richarlison grabbing both - an acrobatic overhead kick against Serbia, followed by a flowing team move in Monday's South Korea win.

But Van Gaal has argued that his Netherlands side have scored the best goal yet, referring to their 20-pass opener against the USA.

"The strange thing is that I read in the media that that was sparkling football, but we did that too, and we also scored. That was a team goal. It was the best moment of the World Cup so far. A really great goal," he said to ESPN.

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The Netherlands could well face Brazil in the semi-finals of the World Cup but will need to get past Lionel Messi and Argentina first.

The best way to do so, Van Gaal says, it to keep possession of the ball so that the PSG man can't hurt them.

"He is indeed the most dangerous player who creates the most chances, but on the other hand, when the opponent possesses the ball, he does not play much. That's also where our chances lie," he said.