Netherlands have slipped to fourth in group A in the European Championships after a shock 1-0 defeat to Iceland in the Amsterdam Arena.
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Danny Blind’s first game in charge started brightly enough with new captain Arjen Robben causing the Iceland defence all sorts of problems down the right, while his free kick was just deflected wide.
Then everything started to go wrong as Robben clutched his groin on 25 minutes and was forced off with Luciano Narsingh coming on, and then eight minutes later Bruno Martins Indi was shown a straight red card for reacting to a challenge by Kolbeinn Sigthorsson. Blind was forced into his second change, and surprised the home crowd by taking off Klaas jan Huntelaar and putting on defender Jeffrey Bruma.
Memphis Depay went through the middle and he came close to opening the scoring despite Netherlands having ten men, while Wesley Sneijder also saw a good effort kept out by Hannes Halldorsson.
However five minutes into the second half Gregory van der Wiel stupidly lunged into a tackle on Birkir Bjarnason, earning Iceland a penalty and the lead as Gylfi Sigurdsson just beat Jasper Cillessen, despite the goalkeeper getting a hand to it.
After the goal Gudmundsson struck the post, but Iceland decided to sit back and invite the pressure on to them, with Luciano Narsingh firing over the bar when well placed in the box. With Netherlands creating chances, it seemed only a matter of time before Blind turned to Robin van Persie, but once again to the shock of the Amsterdam Arena, the coach brought on winger Quincy Promes for Georginio Wijnaldum.
Davy Klaassen and Sneijder both saw late chances saved, but Iceland held on to record their second win over Netherlands in this campaign. They now sit nine points ahead of the Netherlands, while Czech Republic beat Kazakhstan to move six points ahead of the Oranje.
The only saving grace for Blind is that Turkey drew 1-1 with Latvia and Netherlands stay third, which is good enough for a play-off spot. Netherlands head to Turkey on Sunday in what is now a win or bust game for Blind, who will face some tough questions after a baffling first game in charge.
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I am so f*cking pissed off!what kind of coach is this????every single person in the whole world knows iceland plays physical football,and he chooses in midfield two ballerinas klaasen and wijnaldum leaving the defence with no cover,instead of de jong!!!!bas dost wasnt making even the bench while he should have been an absolute starter,because he is strong and tall and could have contrasted the iceland defence for the air ball,and besides this he is the most in form player in front for holland.van dijk played for celltic and now in the premier league,he is used to play physical game,he should have started instead of bruma whom i dont like at all,because he always does anything stupid.SACK BLIND ASAP,or forget france 2016!
I didn’t think Klaassen played badly, it’s not like Iceland was dominating the middle of the park (even with the extra man). But I agree with you on Dost. Against a team like Iceland, he could have made a difference in getting the equalizer, especially in the 2nd half when a lot of crosses were being whipped into the box.
Van der viel thinks to be a diva more than a football player,get rid of him,bring back janmaat and pieters or verhaegh on the left
LOl. What a joke. no this isn’t on Blind. he didn’t tell Robben to get hurt or for BMI to get a red card. this game is 100% on the players. After we went down a man I agreed with Blind moves. RVP is a shell of his former self and to slow for a team trying to create while down a man. Blind went with his fastest players which was a good move. we created chances.
Where Blind does deserve some heart is in his selection. where was Van Dijk? where was Van Beek? Where was Dost? Where was Luuk dejong? All are in form and healthy. before the match I said BMI shouldn’t be selected or starting.
There is a hole in the Dutch system. Every player seems to be 29 or older (Robben, RVP, Sneijder, Huntalaar, etc…) or they are 23 and under. Where are the guys between 24 and 28? The ones that should be in the primes of their careers……