Van Gaal chose many players from the Dutch Eredivisie in the past year and the results were good, with a perfect start of eighteen points from six matches in World Cup qualification. However, this does not by definition mean that current Dutch football is of high quality, according to Van Gaal.
"It's about how many clubs play in the Champions League," he said. "We have not been represented this year in the Champions League, only in the group stage, by Ajax, who were eliminated.
"And in the Europa League Ajax and other Dutch clubs were ousted quickly as well. If you look at that you may think we are not a big football country anymore. But on the other hand it is also about the progress of the national team. We have won all the matches with the national team, scored most goals and conceded the least goals. We have the best goal difference in a rather difficult group with Romania, Turkey and Hungary."
Van Gaal thinks his key players are still playing abroad, with especially Arjen Robben, who won the treble with Bayern, and Van Persie, who became champions of England with Manchester United, finished the season on a high.
"Of course, we must also have that kind of players, otherwise we don't stand a chance. We just noted that the Dutch clubs were not present in the quarterfinals and semifinals of the Champions League. It's good that we do have players who were, like Sneijder, Robben and Van Persie as greatest examples. Fortunately we still have them. That is important, because they can make the difference for us and have made the difference in the past."
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