Louis van Gaal reveals how cooling breaks helped the Netherlands beat Mexico

Netherlands’ coach Louis van Gaal instructs the team during one of the “cooling breaks” in their Round of 16 game against Mexico

Netherlands head coach Louis van Gaal has admitted that the cooling breaks throughout the match against Mexico were key to their dramatic victory.

Mexico were 1-0 ahead with five minutes of the 90 remaining until Wesley Sneijder equalised and then Klaas-Jan Huntelaar converted a 94th-minute penalty after Arjen Robben was fouled by former Barcelona defender Rafael Marquez.

Due to the exceedingly hot temperatures in Fortaleza, FIFA allowed a cooling break halfway through both the first and second half to allow the players to cool down and drink some water. During the three-minute breaks, both teams could regroup and fix anything going wrong.

It gave Van Gaal the perfect opportunity to have a chat with his team who were struggling for large portions of the game. In the end, it paid off as the Netherlands turned the result around to beat Mexico in a dramatic finish.

They now advance to the quarter-finals as they seek they second consecutive World Cup final.

Van Gaal said: “I first changed to a 4-3-3 and then we created a lot of opportunities with a shot on the post and a fantastic save.

“Then I moved to plan B and yes, I did that in the cooling break, that is a clever way of benefiting from these breaks.

“Did you see what I did?” he asked reporters.

“Van Gaal brought on target man Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, took Dirk Kuyt out of defence to partner him in attack and had his team pump long balls into the Mexico penalty area.

“It’s a big compliment that my players picked up on it immediately. We have a modest group of players but they have outstanding team spirit and this is ultimately what led to the victory.

“They had faith and believed till the very end. The humidity was not in our favour. We were fresher and fitter than the Mexicans.

“Not only did my players have belief that they could perform today, they also were fit for this match.

“Yes, it was an escape but in the second half we showed that we could create more opportunities and we played three different systems.”