Lionel Messi and the Argentina team will win the 2022 World Cup, says former Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal.

On the evening of September 4, Van Gaal accepted an award at the Dutch football gala, but he was reluctant to discuss his last coaching competition. The Argentinian players’ performance against the Netherlands, or the fact that they continually went over the limit without being penalized, according to the 72-year-old coach, “shows that this tournament is as it should be set up.”

The former Netherlands coach responded, “I mean it honestly,” when asked what he meant by such statements. Messi has to win the World Cup.

In the 2022 World Cup, Argentina scored 14 goals, including four penalty kick goals made possible by Messi. The 36-year-old superstar also missed a penalty kick during the group stage against Poland when Wojciech Szczesny deflected his attempt. However, none of the 10 goals the Netherlands scored during the competition came from penalties.

Both times that Van Gaal took the Netherlands to the World Cup finals—in the semifinals in 2014 and the quarterfinals in 2022—they were defeated by Argentina in the first round. The defeat in Qatar stated above was also his final game as a coach. Van Gaal claimed that Messi was Argentina’s weakest link prior to the game, and he devised a strategy to halt the team’s captain.

Van Gaal also gave his kids many opportunities to drill 11-meter kicks during practice, but in the end, they still fell short 3-4 in the penalty shootout. After providing an assist for Nahuel Molina to open the scoring, Messi converted a penalty.