Louis van Gaal confirms his continued recovery from cancer and the response of his body to the treatment, and says that the operation he underwent “is behind him.”
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Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal (AFP)
Netherlands coach, Louis van Gaal, indicated that his health condition is good and that he skipped the radiotherapy sessions and the operation he underwent, saying, “The operation is behind me.” After announcing last week that he had cancer.
“I underwent 25 sessions of radiotherapy. Then I had to wait five or six months to see if it had any effect. It worked,” Dutch news agency ANP quoted him as saying.
Van Gaal later underwent prostate surgery in February, adding that since then “everything has become a matter of training. It takes time.”
“These radiotherapy sessions were behind me before signing the contract with the Dutch Football Association in August,” he added in an interview on the occasion of the upcoming release of a film regarding his life called “Louis”.
Later he only had to undergo surgery in February and reassured his fans, “Things should get better now. It’s only a matter of time.”
The announcement of the illness of the former coach of Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Germany, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, England, aroused great sympathy in the world of football, which prompted him to say: “I would never have imagined that he would have such an impact in the world.”
“I find it amazing. I feel emotional regarding it, my eyes water, but it also gives me energy because so many people really care regarding me.”
Van Gaal, 70, revealed last Sunday that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer since 2020, stressing that the “malignant” disease would not prevent him from going to Qatar to lead the “mills” team in the World Cup finals scheduled from November 21 to December 18. next December.
The Netherlands, runner-up for the World Cup in 1974, 1978 and 2010, was placed in Group A along with Qatar, Ecuador and Senegal, knowing that it was absent from the last edition of “Russia 2018”, and came third, led by Van Gaal, in the World Cup “Brazil 2014”.
The Netherlands will play the opening match of the World Cup with Senegal on November 21.
In another context, the Dutch Football Association announced last week that Ronald Koeman will replace Van Gaal in early 2023 After the World Cup finals in Qatar.
