The Netherlands finished their dismal Euro 2016 qualification campaign last night with a home 3-2 defeat at the hands of Czech Republic.
The defeat means that Danny Blind’s side have finished fourth in Group A and in the process failed to even clinch a play-off spot.
The Dutch had to win and hope that Turkey failed to defeat Iceland. However, the Turkish won 1-0 against the Scandinavians. The Czech’s took the lead on 24 minutes, as Jiro Skalak found Pavel Kaderabek and the Hoffenheim defender lifted the ball over Jeroen Zoet.
The visitors doubled their lead on 35 minutes. Josef Sukal picked-up a ball from a throw in, went past Virgil van Dijk with ease, before poking the ball into the goal.
Dutch boss Danny Blind responded to the second goal by sending on striker Robin van Persie on 38 minutes. Things looked to be turning the Dutch’s way just before half-time when Marek Suchy was dismissed.
However, the visitors were three goals up on 66 minutes, as Van Persie headed the ball past his own ‘keeper. The home side briefly had hope as on 70th minutes Klaas-Jan Huntelaar got a goal back with a powerful header.
Van Persie got a second goal for Blind’s side from close-range with just seven minutes left on the clock, but the goal was too little too late to save the game, or the Oranje’s chances of securing a play-off spot.
The last time the Netherlands failed to make a major international tournament was back in 2002, when they failed to make the World Cup. The failure has led to question marks over the future of boss Blind, despite backing from the Dutch football hierarchy.
Should Danny Blind remain as Netherlands boss?
