“As a national team coach, I had to go to the hospital several times during the night without the players finding out yet. They thought I was healthy but not,” said Van Gaal. “You won’t die of prostate cancer, at least not in 90 percent of cases. But I’ve had a pretty aggressive form,” he added.
The former coach of Bayern Munich, Barcelona or Manchester United admitted that he has already undergone radiation treatment twenty-five times. “I was treated preferentially at the hospital. They let me through the back door and took great care of me,” he said. He also recently tested positive for coronavirus, yet on Tuesday he led the Dutch in preparation against the Germans in Amsterdam.
Van Gaal is one of the most successful football coaches, winning twenty big trophies with Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern. He is leading the Dutch national team for the third time after the years 2000-2002 and 2012-2014. At the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, he led the team to bronze. Frank de Boer, who resigned after losing to the Czechs in the eighth finals of the Euro, took over the team last summer.
Three-time world runners-up The Dutch will appear at the world championships after eight years. In Group A, they will face Qatar, Senegal and Ecuador.
