Croatia, Turkey qualify for Euro 2016

After away defeats to both Poland and Ireland, this has been Germany’s worst qualifying campaign for a major tournament since the 2002 World Cup when they finished second behind England. “I’m going to carry on with my work because I’m under contract until 2018 and I believe in this team”, Blind, who replaced Guus Hiddink in July, said afterwards.

But despite even more attacking changes after the break, the hoped for comeback did not materialise as the Netherlands hoofed long balls towards the Czech defence.

Following a promising start that saw winger Anwar El Ghazi draw a save from Petr Cech in the first minute, the Netherlands lapsed back into the sort of ponderous build up play that plagued the team’s qualification campaign. He watched a labouring Dutch starting XI – in which nine of the players had accumulated, between them, fewer caps than he has.

The Oranje, meanwhile, were led by the prolific Ruud van Nistelrooy, fresh from a thirty goal season at Manchester United, with the 21-year-old Chelsea-bound Arjen Robben and Inter Milan winger Andy van der Meyde supporting him from the flanks in an exciting front line.

But that will not matter to Welsh fans who had turned up in their thousands in a sell-out Cardiff City Stadium crowd to mark the nation reaching its first major tournament since the 1958 World Cup.

Israel pulled a late goal back through Tomer Hemed but their hopes of a play-off berth were over, with Bosnia-Herzegovina sealing that spot with a 3-2 win over Cyprus in Nicosia.

Earlier, Italy also made sure of their place in the finals in France next summer with a 3-1 win in Azerbaijan. Eleven minutes later Josef Sural also had the freedom to dribble through the Dutch defense to make it 2-0 for the Czechs. “The Dutch have crashed out and we’re No. 1”.

Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey opened the scoring from close range five minutes into the second half before Gareth Bale netted his seventh goal of qualifying to settle matters late on.

To their delight that is how the night played out.

The Turks have not bitten, saying they only want to look at their personal matches and win.

Turkey, who finished with 10 men, won with an 89th minute free-kick from Selcuk Inan and the result brought a few much needed joy to his compatriots.

Whistles rang out inside the Amsterdam Arena as the Dutch adopted a more conservative approach, but 11 minutes later the deficit increased.

“People did not wonder after the World Cup in Brazil how it had gone this far”.

In a match of significant tap-ins, the most significant of all had come just moments from the end. The best third-place finisher also qualifies automatically, while the eight other third-place teams can reach the tournament through a playoff.