Laas Geel (other name : Las Geel, Laas Gaal)
Long-horned cattle and other rock art in the Laas Gaal complex.
Location	Laas Gaal, Somalia
Access	Public

Laas Gaal (Somali: Laasgeel) is a complex of caves and rock shelters in Somaliland, a self-declared republic that is internationally recognized as an autonomous region of Somalia. Famous for their rock art, the caves are located in a rural area on the outskirts of Hargeisa. They contain some of the earliest known cave paintings in the Horn of Africa. Laas Gaal's rock art is estimated to date back to somewhere between 3,500–2,800 calBC

Overview[link]

The Laas Geel site contains granite caves sheltering about ten rock alcoves decorated with "Neolithic" cave paintings. The caves are located on the ouskirts of Hargeisa, in an area encompassing a nomadic village, the Naasa Hablood hills. The site overlooks a wide district of countryside, where nomads graze their livestock and wild antelopes roam the vast landscape.

Probably nomads poeple used the caves as a shelter when it rained and never paid much attention to the paintings. The site is now guarded by local residents.

Discovery[link]

During November and December 2002, an archaeological survey was carried out in northern Somalia by a French team of researchersof the university of Montpellier 2 (south France). The expedition's objective was to search for rock shelters and caves containing stratified archaeological infills capable of documenting the period when production economy appeared in this part of the Horn of Africa (circa 5,000 and 2,000 calBC). During the course of the survey, the French archaeological team discovered the Laas Geel cave paintings, encompassing an area of ten rock alcoves (caves). In an excellent state of preservation, the paintings show ancient humans of the area raising their hands and worshipping humpless cows with large lyre-shaped horns.^[1]

The rock art had been known to the area's inhabitants for centuries before the French discovery. However, the existence of the site had not been broadcast to the international community. In November 2003, a mission returned to Laas Geel and a team of experts undertook a detailed study of the paintings and their prehistoric context.

Northern Somalia in general is home to numerous such archaeological sites, with similar rock art and/or ancient edifices found at Haylaan, Qa’ableh, Qombo'ul and Elaayo. However, many of these old structures have yet to be properly explored, a process which would help shed further light on local history and facilitate their preservation for posterity.^[2]

Description[link]

The Laas Gaal cave paintings are thought to be some of the best preserved in Africa. Among other things, they depict cows in ceremonial robes accompanied by humans, who are believed to have been inhabitants of the region. The necks of the cows are embellished with a kind of plastron. Some of the cows are also portrayed wearing decorative robes. Besides long-horned cattle, the rock art also shows an image of a domesticated dog, several paintings of canidae as well as a giraffe.^[1]

Simon Reeve visited the cave paintings as part of his television programme Places That Don't Exist. Amazed at the excellent preservation and vibrant colors of the paintings, he said that "Laas Ga'al, it transpires, is probably the most significant Neolithic rock painting site in the whole of Africa" and that "few people know that Somalia is home to such treasures." The late Osman Bile Ali, who showed Reeve the site, described the Laas Geel cave paintings as beautiful.^[3]

Gallery[link]

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• 2012 3D survey.
• french survey.
• Laas Gaa'l, Somaliland attractions.
• Simon Reeve, Laas Gaa'l.
• Flickr Photostream by Najeeb.
• The Journal of African Archeology, Laas Geel
• Somaliland Heritage.
• First Hand Account with Photos

Coordinates: 9°36′N 44°07′E / 9.6°N 44.117°E / 9.6; 44.117

Louis van Gaal

Personal information
Full name	Aloysius Paulus Maria van Gaal
Date of birth	(1951-08-08) 8 August 1951 (age 60)
Place of birth	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Playing position	Midfielder
Youth career
	RKSV de Meer
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1972–1973	Ajax	0	(0)
1973–1977	Royal Antwerp	43	(7)
1977–1978	Telstar	25	(1)
1978–1986	Sparta Rotterdam	248	(26)
1986–1987	AZ	17	(0)
Total		333	(34)
Teams managed
1986–1988	AZ (assistant)
1988–1991	Ajax (assistant)
1991–1997	Ajax
1997–2000	Barcelona
2000–2002	Netherlands
2002–2003	Barcelona
2005–2009	AZ
2009–2011	Bayern Munich
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal OON (Dutch pronunciation: [luˈwi vɑn ˈɣaːɫ]; born 8 August 1951 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch football manager formerly in charge of Ajax, Netherlands, Barcelona, AZ and Bayern Munich. Before his career as coach van Gaal played as a midfielder for Royal Antwerp, Telstar, Sparta Rotterdam and AZ. Van Gaal is also a fully qualified gymnastics teacher, and has worked as such at high-schools during various stages of his career as a semi-professional football-player.^[1]

After a brief spell as coach at AZ, Van Gaal served as assistant coach under Leo Beenhakker at Ajax, and eventually took over as head coach in 1991. Under his lead, the club won three league titles, the UEFA Cup, and the Champions League. Van Gaal moved to Barcelona in 1997 and won two Spanish league titles and one Spanish Cup. After some disagreements at Barcelona, he was appointed coach of the Dutch national team, but then failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup. Another brief spell at Barcelona followed, before he became manager of AZ. After having won the Dutch championship with AZ in 2008–09, he was hired by Bayern Munich on 1 July 2009.^[2] In his first season at Munich, he secured the German league title and won the German Cup, and made it to the final of the Champions League.

Van Gaal is an avid promoter of attacking football, educated in the best traditions of the Total Football by Ajax and the Dutch national team of the 1970s. As a coach he is known as a slow starter who frequently finds his players needing ample time to grasp his tactics and intent of play. Generally his teams gather results in the second or third season under his coaching, an exception being the 2009–10 season when he grasped the German Bundesliga title and lost the UEFA Champions League final with FC Bayern Munich. During several periods in his career, Van Gaal has had his troubles with the media. He is known to be very blunt with media representatives he perceives to be asking him 'stupid' questions.

Playing and early coaching career[link]

As a youngster, Louis van Gaal started playing for the Amsterdam amateur side RKSV 'De Meer'. At the age of 20, he joined the second team of Ajax, but was never chosen to play in the first team, which at the time boasted players such as Johan Cruijff and Johan Neeskens in the midfield positions. After playing a few matches for Royal Antwerp, he returned to his homeland and made his Eredivisie debut for Telstar under the guidance of manager, Mircea Petescu, whom he followed to Sparta Rotterdam. Van Gaal later joined AZ, where he also became assistant coach in 1986. After a short career at AZ, he returned to Ajax to become Leo Beenhakker's assistant. When Beenhakker left in 1991, Van Gaal took over as manager.

Management career[link]

Ajax (1991–1997)[link]

He was Ajax manager from 1991 until 1997 and had a very successful tenure. Under Van Gaal, Ajax became the Eredivisie champions three times, in 1994, 1995 (notably going the entire 94–95 league season unbeaten in both the league and the Champions League) and 1996. He also led Ajax to the KNVB Cup in 1993 and the Johan Cruijff Shield in 1993, 1994, and 1995. On the European scene, Ajax captured the UEFA Cup in 1992 and the UEFA Champions League in 1995 after beating Milan in the final. The latter win was followed by a 5-1 aggregate win over Real Zaragoza in the 1995 UEFA Super Cup. Late in 1995, Ajax beat Brazilian side Grêmio on penalties to win the Toyota Cup (formerly Intercontinental Cup). Ajax were also Champions League runners-up in 1996 after losing to Juventus on penalties.

Ajax was so successful under Van Gaal's leadership that during the 1990s, the Dutch national team was dominated by Ajax players such as Patrick Kluivert, Marc Overmars, Dennis Bergkamp, Frank and Ronald de Boer, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Winston Bogarde, Michael Reiziger, and Edwin van der Sar.

After serving out his contract at Ajax (1997), Van Gaal received his knighthood in the Order of Orange-Nassau.^[3]

Barcelona (1997–2000)[link]

He moved to Barcelona in 1997, taking over from Bobby Robson and helped the team win two league championships (1997–98, 1998–99) and the Spanish Cup once. Despite this success, he clashed with the media and came under criticism. Van Gaal expressed that it was difficult to implement his football philosophy at Barcelona due to cultural differences, and that he struggled hard as some players were unwilling to follow his lead.^[4] His rows with Rivaldo are an example of this. Van Gaal insisted Rivaldo play as a left winger, Rivaldo arguing that he wanted to play in the centre, in effect undermining van Gaal.^[5]

Van Gaal eventually left the Catalan side on 20 May 2000,^[4] uttering the immortal line: "Amigos de la prensa. Yo me voy. Felicidades." (Friends of the press. I am leaving. Congratulations.)^[6] He returned to the Netherlands to manage the Dutch national team in preparation for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Dutch National Team and return to Barcelona (2000–2003)[link]

The Dutch national team failed to qualify for the World Cup Finals, and subsequently Van Gaal stepped down as manager on 31 January 2002 to be replaced by Dick Advocaat. After this, speculation began that Van Gaal would succeed Alex Ferguson at Manchester United once Ferguson claimed he would retire that year. According to Van Gaal Ferguson decided against retiring and the deal fell through.^[7][8] He returned to Barcelona for a short spell, but left the job halfway during the season to be replaced by Radomir Antić.^[6][9]

Return to Ajax (2004)[link]

In 2004, he returned to Ajax as a technical director, but resigned later that year due to an internal conflict.

AZ (2005–2009)[link]

Van Gaal with AZ.

In January 2005 it was announced that he would replace Co Adriaanse as AZ manager on 1 July 2005.^[10][11] AZ finished the 2006–2007 season in third place in the Eredivisie, three points behind champions PSV and runners-up Ajax. Van Gaal also led AZ to a runners-up finish in the 2007 KNVB Cup. AZ failed to reach the UEFA Champions League after losing to Ajax 4–2 on aggregate.

Louis van Gaal initially announced he would leave AZ at the end of the 2007–08 season due to disappointing results.^[12] However, when several players of the AZ squad pointed out that they would like Van Gaal to stay with AZ for the 2008–09 season, van Gaal said he would give the players a chance to prove themselves.

2008–09 season: Eredivisie champions:
AZ started the 2008–09 season with two losses: 2–1 to NAC Breda and 0–3 to ADO Den Haag, but after that the Alkmaar-based club remained unbeaten until 18 April, topping the League ahead of Twente and Ajax for the entire season. AZ had the best defensive record in the Eredivisie and the second-best goalscoring record, behind Ajax, thanks to its offensive duo of league topscorer Mounir El Hamdaoui and Brazilian Ari. They were crowned league champions on 19 April, one day after AZ suffered an unexpected loss at home to Vitesse, which ended a string of 28 unbeaten games. That same day Ajax, the only opponent still technically able to reach them, lost 6–2 to PSV.^[13][14]

Bayern Munich (2009–2011)[link]

On 1 July 2009, Van Gaal took over as coach of Bayern Munich.^[15][16] Van Gaal referred to his new employer as a "dream club".^[17] He got off to a poor start as Bayern Munich coach, winning only one of his first four matches in charge and by November the club was on the brink of a first round Champions League exit following two losses to Bordeaux. With Bayer Leverkusen at the top of the Bundesliga, speculation was rampant that Van Gaal was on the brink of a departure from Bayern even earlier than his predecessor Jürgen Klinsmann. Van Gaal however kept insisting he is a prozesstrainer meaning that his team needs time to play the way he imagines.^[18] On 28 August 2009 Van Gaal strengthened his team by getting Arjen Robben from Real Madrid, this reunited him with Van Gaal who debuted him in the Dutch National U20 team.^[19][20] A feud with Italian striker Luca Toni who had played an important role in Bayern's 2007–08 League and Cup Double led to Toni's move to Roma. However, Bayern Munich's form improved with two Champions League victories including an impressive 4–1 victory over Juventus in Turin, which allowed them to progress from their group in second position behind Bordeaux. Also Bayern Munich moved on the semifinals of the German Cup and were top of the Bundesliga ahead of Leverkusen by March. On 24 March 2010 Bayern played the semi-final of the German Cup against Schalke 04. They won the game in extra time, advancing to the final of the German Cup.

On 8 May 2010, FC Bayern were finally crowned champions of the Bundesliga following a 3–1 win at Hertha Berlin.^[21] This feat made Louis van Gaal the first ever Dutch coach to win the Bundesliga.^[22] Bayern also won the DFB-Pokal on 15 May 2010, thus securing their domestic double^[23] and making Van Gaal the winner of the Cup in the Netherlands, Spain and Germany.

In the Champions League, a 4–4 away goals quarter-final win over Manchester United^[24] and a 4–0 aggregate win over Lyon in the semi-final,^[25] secured a spot in the final. Van Gaal was to meet his former pupil and assistant at Barcelona José Mourinho,^[26] who was coaching Inter Milan. Bayern lost the Champions League Final 2–0, handing Inter a first Italian treble and thus failing to secure the treble themselves.^[27] On 25 May 2010 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge expressed his desire to extend Van Gaal's contract as the club was very happy with his performance, even though Van Gaal still had one year of his contract to fulfill.^[28]

Van Gaal's Bayern also secured the German super cup in 2010 as it was reinstalled after a 14 year absence.^[29] At the end of the season Van Gaal was voted Manager of the Year by the German professional footballers in the yearly poll organized by VDV (professional players' union in Germany) and Kicker.^[30][31][32]

In addition, Van Gaal instilled many youth players are fixtures in the starting 11, including Thomas Müller, Holger Badstuber and also reinvented the winger Bastian Schweinsteiger into a defensive midfielder where he has played ever since.

On 7 March 2011, Bayern Munich declared that van Gaal's contract was to be cancelled after the end of the 2010–11 season,^[33] nevertheless he was sacked on 10 April 2011 after losing the third place in the Bundesliga.^[34]

Coaching philosophy[link]

When asked about his system in 2008, van Gaal said: "It's a footballing philosophy more than a system. A system depends on the players you have. I played 4–3–3 with Ajax, 2–3–2–3 with Barcelona and I can play 4–4–2 with AZ. I'm flexible. The philosophy stays the same though. I don't think that you can adapt it to every possible situation. You need the right mindset, and it depends on how the players see the coach and vice versa. The coach is the focal point of the team but you need to have an open mind, and so do all the players. Everyone needs to work together to achieve a common goal. Preparing your tactical formation is essential. Each player needs to know where he has to be, and that is why there needs to be mutual understanding because you need absolute discipline. This is a sport played by 22 men, and there are 11 opponents out there playing as a team. Each individual needs to know who he has to beat and be there to support his team-mates."

Career statistics[link]

Player[link]

Manager[link]

As of 24 May 2012

Honours[link]

Ajax

• Eredivisie (3): 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96
• Johan Cruijff Shield (3): 1993, 1994, 1995
• KNVB Cup: 1992–93
• UEFA Cup: 1991–92
• UEFA Champions League: 1994–95
• Runner-up: 1996
• UEFA Super Cup: 1995
• Intercontinental Cup: 1995

Barcelona

• La Liga (2): 1997–98, 1998–99
• Copa del Rey: 1997–98
• UEFA Super Cup: 1997

AZ

• Eredivisie: 2008–09

Bayern Munich

• Fußball-Bundesliga: 2009–10
• DFB-Pokal: 2009–10
• DFB-Supercup: 2010
• UEFA Champions League: Runner-up 2010

Individual Honours[link]

• Rinus Michels Award (2): 2007, 2009^[35]
• Dutch Sports Coach of the Year: 2009^[36]
• Die Sprachwahrer des Jahres: 2009^[37]
• German Football Manager of the Year: 2010^[38]

See also[link]

• List of European Cup and UEFA Champions League winning managers
• List of UEFA Cup winning managers

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Louis Van Gaal

• Louis Van Gaal Official Website (Dutch)
• Profile and stats at Voetbal International (Dutch)
• Louis van Gaal management career stats at Soccerbase
• CV Louis van Gaal (Dutch)
• Van Gaal: My football philosophy, from FIFA.com