SAO PAULO (AP):

Louis van Gaal has some advice for Dutch parents: let your kids stay up late to watch the Netherlands-Argentina World Cup semi-final match on Wednesday. They won't sleep even if you send them to bed.

The match at Sao Paulo's Itaquerao Stadium doesn't start until 10 p.m. - Dutch time - when most young children are usually already sound asleep.

But Van Gaal, a former physical education teacher with a reputation as a tough disciplinarian, believes parents should bend their usual bedtime rules.

Van Gaal tells a Dutch youth news program at a news conference yesterday: "I would always let my kids watch the match."

He adds that "they wouldn't sleep anyway because they are so tense to know if the Netherlands will win".