The Holland manager has ‘an incredibly proud’ captain for the quarter-final against Costa Rica, two years after dropping him

“This trainer wants to win. So he makes substitutions. It’s simple.” And when the Holland captain, Robin van Persie, puts it like that, it is.

But when Louis van Gaal’s side were 1-0 down in a World Cup knockout match in the searing afternoon heat of Fortaleza and he decided to gamble by taking off his talismanic captain, it did not seem so straightforward.

Like most of Van Gaal’s bold decisions at this World Cup so far, it came off. Having already switched from 5-3-2 to 4-3-3 as he chased the deficit against Mexico, he used a water break to implement his “plan B” and switch again, to a 4-4-2.

Dirk Kuyt, who began the match as a left-back, joined Van Persie’s replacement, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, up front.

Once Wesley Sneijder had equalised, they went back to 4-3-3 again. As against Australia, when Holland also had to come from behind, and Chile, when Van Gaal acted decisively to break the deadlock, it was a tactical masterclass. “The substitution was tactical. Let’s not forget before he joined the team he was recovering from an injury,” said Van Gaal after the game.

Van Persie, who appears determined to make up here for the disappointment of an injury-hit second season at Old Trafford, even praised his manager for the switch. It was Huntelaar who slotted home the last-gasp penalty that won the day for a Dutch side acquiring a shared sense of destiny with each of four consecutive victories.

Almost immediately, many drew a comparison with David Moyes’ refusal to withdraw an unfit and under par Van Persie as his Manchester United side lost at home to Newcastle United in December, fearing for the reaction of the fans if he did. But the relationship between Van Persie and Van Gaal is very different to the clearly dysfunctional one the striker had with Moyes during the Scot’s short and ill-starred Old Trafford tenure.

Compare and contrast the brooding figure who less than subtly questioned his manager’s tactics after the grim 2-0 defeat at Olympiakos in February with the picture of contentment around Holland’s training camp in Rio de Janeiro’s upmarket Gavea district. At the end of one session this week Van Persie could be seen having an impromptu kickabout with five or six of the squad’s young offspring, all kitted out in Dutch training garb as their mums watched on.

He finished Wednesday’s session with his left thigh taped up but is expected to be fit to face Costa Rica in Saturday’s quarter-final. If not, then Huntelaar will deputise.

Asked about his relationship with Van Gaal, Van Persie told RTL this week: “Yes, we have a very strong bond. It has been good since day one.” The relaxed mindset was underlined by his response to a follow-up question asking whether that bond had helped Van Gaal land the Manchester United job. “No, I don’t have that function. Maybe in the future I can become director of football,” he joked. And yet, it would be a surprise if United’s vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, had not sought his opinion before hiring Van Gaal.

“He has that [a good relationship] with almost all of his players. Everyone respects him, everyone believes in him,” said Van Persie.

Certainly the Dutch players filing through the mixed zone after every one of their matches to date have queued up to proclaim their total faith in Van Gaal, against a backdrop of scepticism in the Dutch media over their coach’s insistence on a 5-3-2 shape viewed as the antithesis of the total football tradition.

That relationship is built on mutual respect. And it is key to the dynamic that Van Gaal has created around a Dutch side in which his captain and his vice-captain, Arjen Robben, have become his lieutenants on the pitch. The rhetoric from both has been the polar opposite of the sometimes selfish public image they have projected in the past.

“The World Cup is not about Robin van Persie. It is about our team doing well. I love a big tournament but I don’t need to have the limelight,” insisted Van Persie before the finals. He and Robben have been empowered by their role as mentors.

And yet Van Gaal’s first move on taking over the national side for the second time – the first included failure to qualify for the 2002 World Cup – in 2012 was to drop the man who would fire Manchester United to the title that season.

At their first team meeting following the disappointing showing under Bert van Marwijk at Euro 2012, Van Gaal took each player aside and asked them to explain their role in the debacle. He told Van Persie he was no longer the team’s No1 striker and that he preferred Huntelaar.

Van Persie later recalled how he went home after sitting on the bench for 90 minutes and saying he had been impressed by Van Gaal’s approach to the job nonetheless. “So, my wife replied: ‘That’s great. So you have a good manager, but you are not going to play!’ Louis just did not know me. He had to get to know me as a person and I had to get to know him.”

A month later, Van Persie was leading the Dutch line again and eight months after that Van Gaal made him captain. The pair used the time Van Persie spent in Holland convalescing from the injury in March that ruled him out of the rest of United’s campaign to good effect.

They spoke often and attended Eredivisie matches together to study the 5-3-2 system that Van Gaal was convinced would best suit a side that blends the experience of Van Persie, Robben, Sneijder, Kuyt and the now injured Nigel de Jong with young domestic talent such as Daley Blind and Memphis Depay.

As a result of their victory over Mexico, Holland face a Costa Rica side that have emerged as the surprise package of this World Cup. But having been written off by their own media before the tournament, an unshakable belief is growing in the Dutch camp.

After the 2-0 victory over Chile that ensured Holland avoided Brazil in the second round, Kuyt said he had been told weeks ago that he might be needed as an extra wing-back. Likewise after the Mexico turnaround, Van Gaal said they had been practising his “plan B” – Kuyt and Huntelaar in a conventional 4-4-2 – for some time.

He will have to shuffle his pack again to take into account the absence of De Jong, whose World Cup is over after he tore a groin muscle against Mexico. The Milan midfielder had flourished in a role that gave him more creative responsibility in addition to his usual enforcing duties and Van Gaal could push Blind forward or bring in Feyenoord’s Jordy Clasie, who has yet to play in Brazil. Another possible option, Norwich City’s Leroy Fer, is also struggling with a hamstring strain.

Although this World Cup looks set to be remembered for individual brilliance and attacking flair over teamwork and tactics, it is worth noting that almost a fifth of the goals have been scored by substitutes. There has also been a flurry of late goals. Interventions from the dugout have proved crucial and are likely to become even more so. All that suits Van Gaal just fine.

Van Gaal, Van Persie and Robben do not appear in any mood to go home just yet. Meanwhile, any chance Wayne Rooney had of seizing the Old Trafford armband over his strike partner once Van Gaal arrives look to be receding fast.

“This group of players is very modest. We have an outstanding spirit, an outstanding atmosphere. Everyone feels we can win it, that it really is possible,” Van Persie said after the Mexico game.

“To be the captain of this squad makes me incredibly proud. It’s a huge honour to be here, at this stage, wearing the armband, because we are a real team.”