With a second straight home defeat, losing 3-2 to the already-qualified Czech Republic on Tuesday, the Netherlands failed to reach the European Championships for the first time since 1984.
To rub salt into the wound, neighbors and perennial rivals Belgium moved top of the FIFA rankings and qualified as the Group B winner with a 3-1 victory over Israel.
Scoring two late goals, Italy came from behind to beat Norway 2-1, and offer qualification on a plate to Croatia, who went through on a lone Ivan Perisic goal in Malta. Norway now face the playoffs.
Photo: EPA
There was no such hardship for Turkey, who beat Iceland 1-0 to take an automatic qualifying place for Euro 2016 as the best third-placed finisher behind the Czech Republic and Iceland.
Joining Norway in Sunday’s playoff draw are Hungary, Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia.
The two-legged matchups are to be staged next month, with the four winners heading to France next year.
Photo: AFP
In Group A, the Netherlands slumped to possibly their worse defeat of a dismal qualification campaign, trailing the 10-man Czech Republic 3-0 in Amsterdam, before two late goals provided a little consolation to fans who were already pouring out of the Amsterdam Arena.
With Selcuk Inan scoring the late winner in Turkey’s 1-0 victory over Iceland, even a win for the Netherlands would not have earned a playoff berth.
“We have not been good enough,” Netherlands coach Danny Blind said.
Hapless defending was again the undoing of the Netherlands, as Pavel Kaderabek opened the scoring and Josef Sural doubled the Czechs’ lead before the break.
Even after Marek Suchy was sent off shortly before halftime, and with Blind eventually opting for a five-man attack, the Netherlands could only manage two strikes in the second half.
Robin van Persie scored at both ends — his own-goal giving the Czechs a three-goal cushion, before he netted his 50th international goal at the other end to make it 3-2 after Klaas-Jan Huntelaar’s strike.
In the group’s other match, Kazakhstan beat Latvia 1-0.
Belgium are top of the FIFA rankings, only the eighth nation to get the distinction.
The 42,000 fans at the King Baudouin Stadium had to wait 64 minutes to start celebrating.
In Group B action, Dries Mertens took a pass from Kevin de Bruyne, and the Napoli winger slotted in a low shot against Israel.
Manchester City’s latest signing De Bruyne scored directly from a free-kick and Eden Hazard got the third goal in the 3-1 win.
Victory meant that runners-up Wales’ 2-0 win over Andorra had no impact on the final standings. In a head-to-head for a third-place playoff spot, Bosnia-Herzegovina beat Cyprus 3-2.
In a cliffhanger in Nicosia, where the lead changed three times, it was finally Bosnia-Herzegovina who pulled through to reach the playoffs, based largely on a brace of first-time goals from RC Deportivo de La Coruna’s Haris Medunjanin.
In Cardiff, scoring the last goal of Wales’ successful campaign, Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale set off the party for the team’s first qualification for a major tournament since 1958 after Aaron Ramsey had scored the opener.
With some help from Italy, Croatia qualified from Group H for their fourth consecutive European Championships after a 1-0 win in Malta.
Croatia claimed second place in the group.
Alessandro Florenzi scored one goal and set up another for Graziano Pelle as Italy overturned a 1-0 halftime deficit in Rome against Norway.
Ghana-born midfielder Alexander Tettey scored with Norway’s only shot of the first half.
In Ta’Qali, Ivan Perisic scored midway through the first half for Croatia.
Italy topped the group with 24 points and Croatia finished second with 20.
Norway finished in third place, with 19 points.
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