World Cup 2014: Fifa unfair over fixtures - Louis van
Gaal:
Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal has accused
Fifa of "playing tricks" with the fixture schedule at the World Cup.
Hosts Brazil played
before the Dutch in the first two games but are in action after them in the
final group round, which Van Gaal claims is unfair.
"Fifa plays these
tricks. It's not a good thing," said Van Gaal whose team could face Brazil
in the last 16.
"It's not fair
play. I think at a World Cup the host country always has an advantage."
The winners of
Brazil's Group A play the runners-up in Group B on Saturday, while the
second-placed team in Group A meet the Group B winners the following day.
“We have to play to qualify, not pick and choose our opponents”
Brazil lead Group A
and need a draw against Cameroon - who are already out having lost to Croatia
and Mexico - to reach the last 16.
If the hosts win
Monday's late game at 21:00 BST, they will top the group while a draw or defeat
will leave them waiting on the result of Croatia and Mexico, who play at the
same time, with the former needing a win and the latter only a draw to
progress.
The Group B games kick
off at 17:00 BST and the situation is a little less complicated in Sao Paulo.
Both the Netherlands and Chile are already through but a draw is enough for the
Dutch to top the group, which could please Van Gaal who admits he wants to
avoid Brazil in the first knockout round of the tournament.
"If I were
allowed to choose, I'd rather not play against Brazil, although Croatia or
Mexico aren't bad opponents either," he said.
However, Brazil
manager Luiz Felipe Scolari insisted: "We have to play to qualify, not
pick and choose our opponents. It was Fifa who chose the kick-off time.
"Some people
expressed a view that we were going to choose who we were going to play. Those
sorts of comments are either stupid or ill-intentioned."
Incoming Manchester
United manager Van Gaal also criticised the referees at the competition, who he
said had awarded two "unjustified" penalties against his side in the
opening two victories against Spain and
Australia. On both occasions the
opposition scored, forcing the Netherlands to come from behind to win.
"We have seen at
this World Cup that we conceded a penalty on two occasions that was
unjustified, that was incorrect - at least in my opinion," he said.
"On two occasions
we get a penalty. There is no country that has experienced something like that,
so perhaps this referee [Bakary Gassama of Gambia] will do a better job. I'm
just hoping that Fifa has carried out a good selection procedure."
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