The Netherlands have failed to reach a major tournament finals for the first time since 2002 after they lost to the Czech Republic in their last
ADVERTISEMENTThe Netherlands have failed to reach a major tournament finals for the first time since 2002 after they lost to the Czech Republic in their last Group A qualifier for next year’s European Championships in France.
The 3-2 defeat left the Dutch in fourth place behind Turkey, who will be celebrating wildly as they grabbed an automatic ticket to the finals.
The Turks finished as the highest ranked third placed team following their 1-0 win over Iceland on the last night of qualifying.
The Czech’s end the campaign top of the Group A pile followed by runners-up Iceland.
Dries Mertens, Kevin de Bruyne and Eden Hazard scored hand Belgium a 3-1 over Israel, top spot in Group B and top spot in the FIFA world rankings.
Bosnia-Herzegovina meanwhile edged past Cyprus 3-2 in their final qualifying match to land third place and a playoff spot as they hunt their first appearance in the tournament finals.
Wales ended their historic qualification crusade with a 2-0 victory over Andorra which sees Chris Coleman’s men go through as the group’s runners-up.
And finally Croatia overtook Norway to grab second place and the last automatic qualification spot from Group H .
Croatia beat Malta 1-0 courtesy of an Ivan Perisic first half goal while Norway were beaten 2-1 by Group winners Italy.
Norway will have a second shot at qualification as they finished the campaign third and in the two-legged playoffs, the draw for which will take place on Sunday.