Daley Blind spoke of his respect and admiration of Louis van Gaal who was secretly battling cancer when Oranje were fighting for World Cup qualification, according to De Telegraaf.
Netherlands head coach Louis van Gaal revealed back in March how he was battling with an aggressive form of prostate cancer after multiple rounds of radiation treatment then having to wait six months for the results.
It would have meant Van Gaal, currently in his third spell as head coach of the Dutch national team, would have been fighting cancer during their crucial World Cup qualifying matches against Montenegro and Norway – which came as a shock to Blind who was diagnosed with heart muscle inflammation in 2019.
“It was a difficult and intense moment for me. That he didn’t let us know anything during the training camp and went to hospital at night made me respect him even more. That he wanted to stay so strong so as not to disrupt our team process.”
Danny Blind, Daley’s father and Van Gaal’s assistant, was aware of the head coach’s condition but did not tell his son.
“After that, we – the national coach and I – did contact each other about our health problems.”
In April, Van Gaal confirmed the treatment was a success.
GBeNeFN | Tom Phillips
