Louis defends sub decisions

After being knocked out of the World Cup on penalties, Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal defended his substitutions and shooting order that proved to be the Oranje's undoing in Wednesday's semifinal against Argentina.
In the quarterfinals, Van Gaal's decision to replace starting goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen with Tim Krul paid off as the second-choice man guessed the right direction on every penalty and lifted the Dutch past Costa Rica.
But in this game, Van Gaal used all three of his substitutes before the 120 minutes were up, and Cillessen failed to save any of Argentina's four penalties.
"If I had the opportunity to substitute Jasper, I would've done it, but I had already used three substitutes, so I couldn't do that," Van Gaal said after the match.
Right back Daryl Janmaat replaced Bruno Martins at halftime, Jordy Clasie entered for the ineffective Nigel de Jong, and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar took over for Robin van Persie in extra time. The manager said he had little choice but to make all three subs, none of which were for purely tactical reasons.
"I substituted Janmaat for Indi because Martins Indi already had a yellow card," Van Gaal said. "I didn't want to take a risk with De Jong because he would be injured. I substituted Van Persie because he was exhausted."
Van Gaal was also questioned about choosing centre-back Ron Vlaar to take the Dutch's first penalty, which Sergio Romero saved with little trouble.
"I felt Vlaar was the best player on the pitch and he has a great deal of confidence," Van Gaal said "It just goes to show that when push comes to shove, it's not easy to score a goal in penalties."
Ironically, Van Gaal was Romero's first manager in Europe when the goalkeeper joined Dutch club AZ Alkmaar in 2009.
"I didn't teach Romero to stop penalties," Van Gaal said. "We were the club that brought him to Europe because he was a big talent. He is the one who has the merits for that. ... Alkmaar was his first [European] club and I was the manager there."