In football, there's a fine line between being a genius and a nutcase.
Louis van Gaal proved this point on Saturday night in Holland's World Cup quarter final against Costa Rica.
In the dying moments of extra-time, the Dutch boss substituted goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen for Tim Krul. A move that resulted in Holland securing their place into the semi-finals after winning on penalties.
At the time of writing, I still don't know why he did it.
Can Krul speak Spanish and could therefore wind up the penalty taker before taking the kick?
Was it a master plan to throw the Costa Ricans off by making it appear that they were introducing a superb penalty stopper?
If that was a case the mind games won.
However, don't be fooled.
Had this all backfired, the very same writers applauding him in yesterday's papers would have had the knives out. The narrative is that van Gaal pulled off a superb swerve.
Meanwhile, in recycle bins across the world, a different story had been written.
Never to be published.
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