HOLLAND boss Louis van Gaal has revealed he caught some of his players “naked” on FaceTime when telling them they had not made his World Cup squad.
The Dutch head coach, 71, announced his 26-man side for Qatar on Friday.
Prior to confirming the squad, Van Gaal told each of the 11 players he had not included that they would not be in the final selection.
But it did not go exactly to plan, with the ex-Manchester United boss claiming some of his stars were not yet dressed.
Speaking in his announcement press conference, he said: “It’s not easy dropping someone.
“I spent 1 hour and 45 minutes Facetiming the 11 players this morning. It wasn’t easy.
“I also took into account the time difference with the English players. I saw some naked players because they were still in bed.”
Man Utd midfielder Donny van de Beek and Newcastle centre-back Sven Botman were among the players snubbed from the final squad.
During the presser, Van Gaal was also quizzed about his wife saying he was superstitious.
To which he rather bizarrely replied: “No. I received orange underpants from her. Do you really think I will wear these orange pants every day?
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“I only do it on match days. This is why I wear it. Out of respect for my sweet wife.”
Van Gaal has a lot of quality to choose from in his final squad, including the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Matthijs de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong, Cody Gakpo and Memphis Depay.
And he is not shying away from Holland‘s chances of winning the tournament – despite them failing to qualify in 2018.
He said: “We stand a big chance to win the World Cup.
“There are not a lot of managers who dare to say this, but I’m here to tell you this.”
During his time at Bayern Munich, Van Gaal once dropped his trousers in front of his players to prove he has total authority.
Italian striker Luca Toni revealed: “The coach wanted to make clear to us that he can drop any player.
“It was all the same to him because, as he said, he had the balls.
“He demonstrated this literally by dropping his trousers. I have never experienced anything like it, it was totally crazy.
“Luckily I didn’t see a lot, because I wasn’t in the front row.”
