Louis van Gaal admits he tried to sign Sadio Mane at Manchester United

Netherlands head coach Louis van Gaal admitted that he tried to sign Mane from Southampton when he was Manchester United manager but was unsuccessful.

He knows what a blow this will be Senegal, but insisted that his side equally had a loss of their own without the services of Memphis Depay, their top scorer from the qualifying campaign.

"I think Mane is an extraordinary player and I wanted him as manager of Manchester United. He was at Southampton and I chased him at the time," said the Dutch boss.

"He can break open a match and Senegal will really miss him - but the same applies to us, we are missing our top scorer and king of the assists."

Van Gaal was also asked to speak on the long-running criticism of the World Cup host country's laws and human rights record.

The Dutch soccer federation is the leader of the "One Love" anti-discrimination movement and Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk is expected to wear an armband with a multi-colored heart-shaped logo in defiance of a FIFA order to keep politics out of the World Cup.

The "One Love" armbands are a criticism of Qatar's laws criminalizing homosexuality. The England and Wales captains have said that they will also ignore FIFA's directive and wear them when they open their World Cup play on Monday.

Among international coaches, Van Gaal has been one of the most outspoken critics of letting the small but wealthy emirate host the World Cup, a decision which he has called "ridiculous." He toned down his criticism earlier this week in his first media conference in Qatar and then declined Sunday to answer any more questions on "political issues" at the World Cup.

"I'm no longer going to speak about political issues. I'm focusing on this match," Van Gaal said. "And I'm asking all my players to do that and concentrate on the game."

But while Van Gaal drew a line under his comments on the politics, the Dutch soccer federation reiterated that Van Dijk will still wear the "One Love" armband against Senegal.

The World Cup will likely be the last major coaching assignment for the 71-year-old Van Gaal, who announced this year he has prostate cancer and has been receiving radiation treatment. He rated this squad as better "on average" than the 2014 group he coached to the World Cup semifinals in Brazil.

Netherlands has lost three World Cup finals - in 1974, 1978 and 2010 - and although there's a long road ahead in Qatar, the Group A game against African champion Senegal is the biggest early challenge for the Dutch and a good indicator of how far they might go. Host nation Qatar and Ecuador are the other teams in Group A.

Sign up to Sorare via my link and get a FREE LIMITED card worth REAL MONEY!! https://sorare.pxf.io/BeanymanSports

Sorare is a digital fantasy football game where you can you buy, sell and trade officially licensed football cards with the added bonus of a fantasy football competitions with the chance to win huge prizes!

By using your football expertise, YOU choose the best players and get paid for their real-life performances!

Signing up with my link will get you a FREE LIMITED card (worth REAL money) after buying your first 5 cards. You can also sign up and play for FREE and build your way up.

Please subscribe, like the video and share wherever you can!

Help support the channel from only £0.99p a month!!
Get special loyalty badges next to your name in the comments and live chat! You'll also get team badge emojis from your favourite team to use in live chat and premieres!! Click 'Join' below the video for more info or visit = https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiVg6vRhuyjsWgHkDNOig6A/join

**DO NOT copy and re-upload any part of this video anywhere otherwise copyright strikes will be made! You do not have my permission to use this footage**

To make sure you don't miss any of my videos
on this and my other channels please:

Subscribe here!: http://bit.ly/BeanymanSportsSub

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/BeanymanSports
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@BeanymanSports
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/BeanymanSports
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeanymanSports

You can now listen to my press conferences on Spotify!
Follow me here! = https://open.spotify.com/show/2BP8X4mkrrnliD6hDNIWrU
This will be perfect to listen to when you're travelling to work or something and you can't watch the video.

If you want to help with the costs involved with running the channel you can also support me on my Patreon here = https://www.patreon.com/BeanymanSports

For business enquiries, sponsorships, and ads, please contact beanymansportsmarketing@gmail.com

Timeline courtesy of Warrior J93
0:00 Intro
Outro | Please like the video and subscribe!