After the shock 1-0 defeat to Iceland on Thursday, Netherlands travel to Turkey for a vital European Championships qualifier.
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Automatically qualifying for the Euro’s in France next year now looks out of reach for the Netherlands after the defeat midweek, but they are still in pole position for a third place finish and entry to the play-offs. A win over Turkey on Sunday would all but seal third, with Danny Blind’s side currently one point ahead of the Turks with three games left.
The coach will have to go into the game with Arjen Robben, who has returned to Munich after suffering a groin injury, while Bruno Martins Indi is suspended after his red card. Called into the squad are Southampton centre back Virgil van Dijk and Sunderland winger Jeremain Lens.
Blind will need to decide who will replace Martins Indi and Robben in the starting line-up, although its likely we will see PSV defender Jeffrey Bruma and PSV winger Luciano Narsingh. The coach said in his press conference ahead of the match that Robin van Persie was not a candidate to replace Robben on the right.
Possible Netherlands line-up: Cillessen, van der Wiel, Blind, De Vrij, Bruma, Sneijder, Klaassen, Wijnaldum, Memphis, Narsingh, Huntelaar
Turkey could have overtaken Netherlands in Group A on Thursday but they conceded a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at home to Latvia. Its been a disappointing campaign so far for coach Fatih Terim, but one of the highlights would have been holding Netherlands to a 1-1 draw in Amsterdam last March, while Turkey are unbeaten in their last five qualifiers.
Barcelona’s new signing Arda Turan missed the first tie against Netherlands, but he will be available on Sunday, despite not being able to play for his club until next year. Terim’s side are likely to stay unchanged from the draw against Latvia.
Possible Turkey line-up: Babacan, Tufan, Erkin, Balta, Aziz, Turan, Inan, Calhanoglu, Sen, Tore, Yilmaz
Previous Meetings: The 1-1 draw in March was the 11th meeting between the two nations. Netherlands have won five of those matches, while Turkey’s last victory against the Oranje came back in 1997.
Prediction: Blind has stated that Netherlands go to Turkey to win and will not play for a draw, but a point would be a good result for the Oranje. With confidence low in the Dutch squad, and Turkey one of the most difficult atmosphere’s to play in, Netherlands would be more than happy to come away from Konya with a point, which would keep them third going into next month’s matches against Czech Republic and Kazakhstan.
Turkey 1-1 Netherlands
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IF/THEN: If Robben’s not on the pitch, then RVP in some form better be on the pitch! Gotta wonder if he’s being penalized for falling out with LVG.
Wake up Blind!
RVP must start ahead of Huntelaar. Huntelaar is more clinical but RVP always gets a few chances and is better at finding space. Janmaat is miles better than van Der Weil and is paying for his horrendous back pass far too long. Also Blind is much better in MF than at the back. If Turkey wins its time clean house meaning ALL the coaching staff,older players and appoint Frank De Boer for the WC qualifying. Been watching since 74 and I have not seen a Dutch team lack a gameplan as much as this group. Even when they went down to 10 the only option was to go for a win and Blind brings on Bruma for Huntelaar and Promes on instead of RVP. Blind is not a tactician and he gets a pass for the Martins Indi and PK but if they do not beat Turkey out right its like I said CLEAN HOUSE and some KNVB staff too.
You are right 100%. I wonder why Blind kept Huntelaar and Lens out against Turkey and he was down 2-0 in first half.
Danny Blind doesn’t know how to make subs. He is trying new debut players in an important match like vs. Turkey.