Analysis:Trust in Van Gaal pays off as Dutch advance to Qatar quarter-finals

DOHA : Coach Louis van Gaal may divide Dutch opinion with his tactics, but putting their faith in him has paid off once again for the Netherlands as a 3-1 win over the United States sent them into their seventh World Cup quarter-final on Saturday.

Prior to their last 16 clash with the Americans, the Dutch team put out a video featuring Van Gaal's face on a dollar bill emblazoned with the words "In Louis we trust". Again he proved himself to be value for money.

After a ponderous opening, the Dutch took the lead in the 10th minute with an electrifying Memphis Depay goal that could have been scored by his free-flowing 1995 Champions League-winning Ajax side.

It was the first goal the United States conceded from open play in Qatar and Daley Blind added a superb second with a first-time strike just before the break.

But in between, and for most of the second half, the Dutch played the kind of risk-free, pragmatic possession football that has become Van Gaal's signum in the latter part of his career.

While it will not win him any friends, it certainly wins him football matches.

News conferences with the combative 71-year-old in Qatar have consisted of Dutch journalists criticising him, and Van Gaal telling them he doesn't care. On Saturday he again let the result rather than the performance do the talking.

"DIFFERENT OPINION"

"I think I've been very clear on the media, the media have a different opinion to me and I don't want to annoy them any more," he told a news conference on Friday when asked about his pragmatism ahead of the knockout stage.

From early on, the Oranje did everything they could to drag the tempo of the game down, frustrating their young opponents while conserving their energy for what is to come, but keen to