Van Gaal: Netherlands 'will assess Depay' after Senegal appearance

Louis van Gaal says the Netherlands will assess Memphis Depay's fitness after he appeared in their win over Senegal.

The Oranje marked their return to the World Cup final with a 2-0 victory over the African Cup of Nations champions, with late goals from Cody Gakpo and Davy Klaassen sealing the group points A.

Depay started the game on the bench due to a lingering hamstring problem but was brought in for the final 28 minutes at Al Thumama Stadium and the Barcelona striker will be hoping to feature against Ecuador on Friday.

"We agreed before the game that he would play around half an hour," Van Gaal said of Depay, who has been limited to just two La Liga appearances this season.

"With Ecuador he will want to play, but I have to assess his form after this game. I never thought we would lose and with the entry of Depay I wanted to have more chances to to score. He is a player who can make the difference."

Van Gaal oversaw his 38th victory in charge of the Netherlands, the most by any manager in history, and praised the performances of Gakpo and goalkeeper Andries Noppert, who recorded a clean sheet in the of his senior international debut.

But the head coach is looking to improve his players as the tournament progresses.

"Gakpo was decisive, I left him inside because he knows how to score goals and he is very agile," he added. “Senegal had three chances, but we have a goalkeeper who knows his stuff between the posts.

"We didn't play very well, too often we gave them the ball and the chance to score. We needed to be more compact. We can only improve, there was probably some tension between the players. players."