COMMENT: Nigel de Jong and Louis van Gaal nullify Lionel Messi #TheElitePartyinJuly #IRepEntertain9jarBlog #TwitterTrendBlog via @myentertain9jar

THE ARGENTINES had come, in their tens of thousands, to hail Lionel Messi.

 

Nigel de Jong stuck to Lionel Messi like glue[AP]

They unfurled a banner depicting him alongside the Pope and Diego Maradona. They sang about Brazil's 7-1 hammering at the hands of Germany and how Messi was bound for the Maracana.

But they hadn't banked on Louis van Gaal.

If Messi has been the star player then Van Gaal has been the finest manager in this tournament by some distance.

Manchester United fans must be licking their lips at the thought of what he might do at Old Trafford next season and this was another example of his management at its very best.

He promised that there was a plan for Messi and there was.

It came in the shape of Nigel de Jong, a man who was ruled out of this World Cup just nine days ago due to a groin problem and only returned, according to Van Gaal, thanks to a 'miracle'. How Messi and Argentina must wish it had stayed that way.

When Messi got into bed last night he would have been half-surprised de Jong wasn't already there, so closely had the Dutchman followed his every move.

If Messi dropped deep, so did de Jong. When Messi went to the wing, so did de Jong. When de Jong couldn't bring Messi down, Bruno Martins Indi did.

It was cynical, intelligent football from Holland and Van Gaal. It has long been thought that if you stop Messi you stop Argentina and Holland had decided to test that to the full.

The only time Messi threatened was from a free-kick - one occasion when De Jong couldn't be right next to his target.

Yet Holland were suffering from a similar problem. Arjen Robben, the man who had dragged them almost single-handedly to the semi-finals, only had six touches in the first half.

It made for an absorbing spectacle, if not the compelling one we were hoping for.

We had arrived with talk of someone emulating Dennis Bergkamp, Mario Kempes or Johan Cruyff.

In the end we had to admire football's destroyers rather than the artists. After the eight goals in Belo Horizonte it was time for football to become serious again.

Van Gaal had done his job - and so had de Jong.