Disaster for Dutch as Croatia, Turkey celebrate

Turkey finished with 18 points ahead of the Netherlands on 13, after the Dutch suffered a 3-2 home defeat by the Czech Republic who won Group A with 22 points, two ahead of Iceland.

Pavel Kaderabek and Josef Sural netted first-half goals in Amsterdam before the Czechs lost Marek Suchy to a red card just before the break, but the visitors then added a third as Robin van Persie farcically headed into his own net.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar did something back with a goal in the 70th minute and Van Persie tipped in his 50th goal for the Dutch national team in the 83rd minute.

For the first time in more than 30 years, the Netherlands has failed to qualify for the European Championships.

The Royal Dutch Football Association insisted the 54-year-old would remain in charge regardless of the team’s fate, but pressure is sure to mount, with Southampton boss Ronald Koeman tipped as a potential alternative.

But the Oranje underlined a miserable campaign by failing to deliver the win that was needed to give the World Cup third-place finishers even a glimpse of hope.

But in the end neither happened, with the 1988 European champions going down 3-2 to the Czechs, their third loss in four qualifiers under Danny Blind, while Turkey beat Iceland 1-0.

If the Dutch win and Turkey draw, Fatih Terim’s team will advance into next month’s play-offs by virtue of their superior head-to-head record.

Van Persie was brought on in the 39th minute as the Netherlands were desperately searching for a goal against the Czech Republic in qualifying for Euro 2016.

The Turks were already guaranteed at least a play-off spot after Holland crashed to a 3-2 home defeat against the Czech Republic.

But a win in Astana was never in any doubt as they dominated the match.

But Netherlands’ desire to push for an opener left them exposed defensively, and Czech Republic soon began to capitalise on that.

However, with the finishing line in sight, Norway collapsed, conceding two late goals to Alessandro Florenzi after 73 minutes and Graziano Pelle eight minutes from time, to lose 2-1 and allow Croatia to overtake them.

Kazakhstan’s 1-0 triumph over Latvia had massive repercussions around the continent.