The winner will face either Brazil or Croatia in Tuesday’s semi-final.
The traditional rivals met for the first time at the 1974 World Cup, when the Dutch won the group 4:0. At the following home championship, however, Argentina defeated them in the final 3:1 after extra time and won the first of two trophies for the world champions. 20 years later, the European Championships were more successful in the quarterfinals (2:1). In 2006, the group match ended goalless and eight years later their semi-final ended in a 0-0 draw on penalties, in which the Argentines cheered up.
Montage of the Argentina – Australia World Cup matchvideo: Czech television
The duel is also interesting because the youngest and oldest manager of the tournament will face each other. While Scaloni is 44 years old, Van Gaal is 27 years older.
Montage of the eighth final of the World Cup Japan – Croatiavideo: Czech television
Van Gaal is in charge of his home country for the third time. As a coach, he was also in the last match for Argentina at the 2014 World Cup.
The South Americans started the championship with a surprising 1-2 defeat against Saudi Arabia, but then beat Mexico and Poland 2-0 and Australia 2-1 in the round of 16. At the tournament, the Dutch defeated Senegal 2-0, drew with Ecuador 1-1 and closed out the group with a 2-0 victory over the host nation. In the quarterfinal fight, they beat the USA 3:1.
