Think of the Netherlands’ traditional attributes and chances are that talent, technique and tactical sophistication will come high on the list. Team spirit and unity of purpose are unlikely to figure quite as prominently.

When, less than two years after they had reached the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ Final, Wesley Sneijder lamented the "pathetic egos" splitting the Dutch squad, it struck a familiar note – one that echoed back to the mid-90s and beyond.

But the Netherlands’ class of 2022, which had already come together to top their FIFA World Cup qualifying section after a demoralising 4-2 opening-match loss in Turkey, now have something else to unify around. It is, as star centre-back Virgil van Dijk explained, the desire to give coach Louis van Gaal – who this week revealed a long-standing battle with prostate cancer – a tournament to remember.

"I was in shock,” said the Liverpool star. "I messaged him after the interview (in which he revealed his illness) – it definitely says a lot about him. I said to him that he's probably not that type of guy that needs a lot of sympathy – that's how he is.

"But I told him as well that we are definitely going to be there for him as a group whenever he needs it and that hopefully we can also make it, for him, a World Cup to never forget."

Current and former players, as well as Van Gaal’s former clubs, have also been quick to express their support on social media, with Marcus Rashford tweeting that he would “forever be indebted” to the man who gave him his debut.

Van Gaal is in his third spell as Netherlands coach, having most recently led his country to a third-place finish at Brazil 2014. Van Dijk believes that it no surprise that the team are unbeaten in nine matches since the 70-year-old’s return, and the veteran coach himself was never likely to allow an illness – however serious – to prevent him taking charge.

"I do the job because I like it,” Van Gaal explained on the Dutch TV show 'Humberto'. “I like to work with this squad. It’s a present for me at a late age – that’s how I see it."

The former Manchester United and Bayern Munich coach explained, too, why he kept his cancer treatment a closely guarded secret as his players fought to qualify for Qatar 2022.

“I had to leave in the night to go to the hospital without the players finding out,” he said. “They thought I was healthy, but I am not. You don’t die from prostate cancer, at least not in 90 per cent of the cases. But I had a pretty aggressive form, and got irradiated 25 times. Then you have a lot of management to do in order to get through life.

“I didn't want to tell my players because it might influence their choices, their decisiveness, so I thought they shouldn’t know. I have a lot of discipline and willpower.”

Van Gaal, who is due to lead the Netherlands into a World Cup section in which they have been pitted against Qatar, Senegal and Ecuador, knows all about the devastating consequences of cancer, having lost his first wife to the disease when she was just 39. Typically, however, this tough and determined character is refusing to see his glass as half-empty.

"I've been through a lot with illnesses, including with my own wife – that's just part of life,” he reflected. “And I think that I, as a human being, have probably become richer because of all those experiences."