Netherlands are on the brink of exiting the 2016 Euros as they host the Czech Republic in Amsterdam on Tuesday.
- By Michael Bell
Netherlands started their disappointing campaign with a defeat in Prague, and it will end on Tuesday with the Czech Republic visiting Amsterdam.
Only one scenario will see the Orange avoid huge embarrassment and qualify for France next summer. Netherlands need to beat the Czech Republic and hope Turkey lose at home to already qualified Iceland, who have drawn their last two matches against Kazakhstan and Latvia.
However coach Danny Blind is not giving up hope, “We have to win and we are focused on that and then hope the other match result works out for us,”
Netherlands go into the game with a squad depleted by injuries, including those suffered by first choice goalkeepers Jasper Cillessen and Tim Krul during Saturday’s 2-1 win over Kazakhstan. Feyenoord’s Kenneth Vermeer and Southampton’s Maarten Stekelenburg have been called into the squad, while Gregory van der Wiel is included after seeing out a suspension.
Blind indicated that he would not make many changes from the team that beat Kazakhstan and it is likely Jeroen Zoet with get the nod to start in goal.
Possible Netherlands line-up: Zoet, Tete, Riedewald, Van Dijk, Bruma, Blind, Sneijder, Wijnaldum, El Ghazi, Memphis, Van Persie
The Czech Republic have already qualified for the Euro’s and they fielded a second string side for the defeat to Turkey in Prague on Saturday. It is likely that player’s such as Petr Cech and Tomas Necid come into the side for the game in Amsterdam.
With Turkey in form and determined to reach the Euro’s it is unlikely that they will suffer the defeat that is needed for Netherlands to qualify, but the Oranje need to do their job and defeat the Czechs.
Should Netherlands fate be sealed on Tuesday and they miss out on a first European Championships since 1984 then a likely inquest at the KNVB will take place to determine how it has gone so wrong for last year’s World Cup semi-finalists.
The Oranje fans just need to hope for a miracle.
Follow
Follow @Footballoranje_ on Twitter
I can’t see Turkey losing to Iceland the one good thing is many Icelanders have made their trade in the Dutch league and maybe they can pull one off. Its going to take a miracle and deep down I want to see Holland get another chance but because of this debacle and even seeing Albania qualify I want the KNVB to clean house and they will have almost a year to regroup to build a team for the WC qualifying. And for sure there will be no more Robben, RVP, Huntelaar or Sneijder for 2018. So its time to rebuild.
You know Mike,i’m albanian and i comment here very often because i truly,madly love the dutch football and there is no doubt there is a big diffence between the 2 teams with the dutch being much more talented,but first of all,albania had a real coach while holland didn’t have one,second the albanian players put their hearts in this effort while the dutch took it all for granted and in their minds they won the group without even playing.
I’ve been a crazy-loyal-near hardcore fan of the Netherlands for 20 years, and I’m only 29, so I’ve watched, hoped, disappointed for the whole half of my life.
I always hoped the best for the dutch.. Losing in semifinal of WC 98, Euro 2000 on penalties hurts like crazy. Those generations of Dennis Bergkamp, Van Der Sar, F. De Boer and Jaap Stam deserved to be champions.
Losing on penalties especially with that much talent and quality in the team is very very heartbreaking. Remembering 2 open play penalties missed by Kluivert and F de Boer in Euro 2000 SF against Italy will always hurt no matter how long time ago it is.
Then the team finally make me really cry when they missed WC 2002 after losing to 10-man Ireland on the deciding match. I’ll never forget when Jason McAteer scored that 68’th minutes goal and seal our fate. Dutch, against a 10 man team lets their nerves took over and waste their chance. Even a draw will put Duth on favor for that playoff spot against Asian team, but no, they have to lose on that match.
2004 -2006 is an unconvincing time where I don’t expect much from the team which composed of some players ready to retire and some players not experienced enough. It’s a transition time.
Euro 2004 proved to be a surprise where the Dutch played unconvincingly but lucky to reach the semifinal just to be beaten by Portugal.
2006 WC, I don’t expect to much since a lot of team is far stronger and our team is . So, reaching last 16 is already a good achievement.
It consists of players who’s getting ready to strive in the next tournament.
Euro 2008, I worried so much since we’re in the same group with France and Italy. France and Italy are the finalist of the previous World Cup (speaking of that finals, Materazzi proved filthiness are greater than elegance when he single handedly scored and make sure Zidane got a red card in his final game).
But the Dutch conquered the group by beating those WC-finalists by 3-0 (italy)and 4-1 (france) scoreline. But somehow we managed to screwed our chance by osing to much weaker side Hiddink-Russia side in quarter final. Hoped and disappointed, again.
WC 2010 proved to be a very big surprise for me, Dutch reached the final for the third time in history after successfully beat the favorite Brazil.
A final between a Dutch “Total Football” vs Spain “Tiki Taka”. I’m hoping for a great open offensive game. There’s so much talent in the field between both teams with a culture and history of great technique and attacking football.
But horror came, when like Bergkamp said “Somehow they forgot how to play football against Spain… There are two great footballing nations and one is trying to play football and the other one is preventing them from playing football in a way they’ve never done before.”
There is one golden chance of Robben, which he missed, but that’s not the highlight of the game. Because I sadly remembered De Jong horror tackle rather than Robben missed chance. Seedorf said that tackle deserved a red card and 3 months in jail. Well done De Jong.
WHy did you they decide to play like that in the Final. Play like that to qulify from a group, but not in a final. Please…
Hurt to say, we deserved to lose that match. And by losing to Spain that day, it means, we’re the only nation who managed to lose 3 World Cup Finals in history. What an achievement.
I don’t want to type how disappointed I am when we lose all our group matches on Euro 2012 which, well one of the most embarrassing tournament for the Dutch.
WC 2014 came, and I’m satisfied even disappointed again at last. We qualify for the final tournament, then we took our revenge on Spain by crashing them with a perfect team performance, and went on to qualify for our 5th World Cup Semifinal in history. Against Argentina, it’s almost a Robben vs Messi match. In reality, both are marked like hell and both team play cautiously in the end the match ended in 0-0. And like 1998 WC we lose on penalties. Which is sad, after a great performance the whole tournament. We still managed to won the 3rd place by the way, not that it mattered.
Every time, I really hoped “this is the day, we have to make it…” and It’s not.
Whatever happened I always support the dutch no matter what.
But today, when I typed this long self-loathing, self-pity long boring history of the Dutch football team, Dutch, the 3rd place winner of 2014 WC, finalist of 2010 WC, are now in the brink of the most humiliating history of its national football.
Euro 2016 just changed its formats from 16 finalist contestants to 24. Which means to qualify for the Final Round is at its easiest time. 24 teams can qualify. And I thought, Dutch is at least one of the 5 strongest football nation in Europe, and maybe in the world.
But no. Today, we have to win against Czech (who already qualified) and hoping for a miracle that Turkey will lose their match to Iceland (also qualified), just to get to the playoff round between the 3rd ranked qualifiers.
Never in my 20 years of supporting the Dutch, that I felt like this.
I’m on the verge on hoping the Dutch to fail.
Dutch league has suffered in European Competitions, no one afraid of Ajax, PSV or Feyenoord anymore. To qualify from a CHmapions League group stage is an achievement now.
And the national team is like depended heavily on the aging-injury prone Robben, Van Persie and Sneijder. The young one is like weak mentally (look how Bruno Martin Indi screwed our match against Iceland by a really stupid red card). That’s a sign that they’re not ready.
In 2 last deciding match, against Kazakhstan and Czech Republic, they should be focused more than ever. But, the news that came out, RVP fights Depay. My God it’s like the 96 incident coming back.
SO, DOES NETHERLANDS DESERVED TO QUALIFY FOR FRANCE 2016 ??? THE ANSWER IS A BIG FAT NO !!!!
If by miracle they qualified,again I say, by MIRACLE. I think it’s time to do some real evaluation on the whole team, if we don’t want it to be our next embarrassing tournament.
It’s not putting a blame on anyone, its just a scream of helpless, stressed fans who hoped the team to succeed.
The Dutch just didn’t deserve to qualify.
Horrible game.
Evaluation of all the football structure ASAP… Or we won’t be in WC 2018 either.