Euro 2016 qualifier: Van Persie scores own goal as Dutch crash out

Czech Republic host Turkey tonight in Prague in their penultimate qualification match before travelling to the Netherlands on Tuesday with the under-performing Dutch desperate for a victory in their hunt for a play-off place.

Dutch superstar Robin Van Persie has been left gutted after a scoring a crucial own goal against the Czech Republic that helped eliminate the Netherlands from qualifying for Euro 2016.

The first to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who made it 3-1 in the 70th minute with a header past Cech. “Everything has gone wrong with Oranje, ‘ wrote the AD. The match against the Czech Republic is symbolic for the whole group competition, the paper said: ‘chaos, doubt, errors and weakness”.

The Netherlands will not feature at Euro 2016 after a 3-2 defeat to the Czech Republic ensured a miserable qualifying campaign ended in failure. Turkey are favourites thanks to starting the final double-header two points ahead of the Dutch and having a better head-to-head record. But as the best third placed side, Turkey avoid a playoff altogether and go straight to France.

Georginio Wijnaldum and Wesley Sneijder scored either side of half-time to keep alive the Netherlands’ hopes of Euro 2016 qualification as they won 2-1 in Kazakhstan on Saturday for a first victory under new coach Danny Blind.

Although the visitors were reduced to 10 men when Marek Suchy was sent off before half-time, the Netherlands failed to capitalize.

The Netherlands went into European qualifying following an impressive World Cup campaign in Brazil, but Guus Hiddink assumed the reins as Louis van Gaal left the national set-up to return to club football and a change in approach upset the momentum. The aim was to qualify automatically or via the playoffs and I haven’t done that.

Holland needed to win and bank on already-qualified Iceland winning in Turkey in order to qualify, but as it was a free-kick from Selcuk Inan gave Fatih Terim’s side a 1-0 win.

There was also drama in Group H, where Italy fought back from a goal down to beat Norway 2-1 and clinch top spot with Croatia leap-frogging the Norwegians into second with a 1-0 win over Malta.

In Group B, Belgium and Wales finished one-two following respective homes wins over Israel and Andorra, with Bosnia-Herzegovina taking third place behind them.