The Holland
players stood frozen in time, hands on heads or slumped on their knees. They
loitered around awkwardly in the centre circle before tentatively applauding
the crowd.
Most in
attendance had long since made for the train station, those who stayed just
whistled. From Alkmaar to Zeist, a proud footballing nation mourned.
There was to be
no miracle to save the Dutch from their nightmare. What's the point relying on
Iceland to come to your aid when you can’t even do your own half of the
job?
They won’t be at
next summer’s European Championship and, quite frankly, they don’t deserve to
be. There will be an absence of illuminating Oranje at the Euros for the first
time since 1984.
This abject
performance only heaped further misery upon the misery of a campaign that has
lurched from one ignominy to the next.
As Robin van
Persie put through his own net to the 10 men of the Czechs three-up, adding to
first-half strikes from Pavel Kaderabek and Josef Sural, a brilliant
footballing nation reached its lowest ebb.
Not even the
sending off of Marek Suchy just before half-time could spur them, and replies
by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Van Persie were scant consolation in the end.
In some ways,
Holland achieved something quite remarkable. UEFA expanded the European
Championships from 16 to 24 teams precisely so things like this wouldn’t
happen. ‘No major nation left behind’ might as well have been the slogan.
Yet while Wales,
Northern Ireland, Albania and Iceland will be at the party in France, Holland
will be watching on their television sets at home. The country of Cruyff, Van
Basten, Neeskens, Rijkaard, Gullit - not attending. It seems scarcely credible,
yet here we are.
And just as
remarkable is how this very same country, this very same group of players with
one or two exceptions, finished third at the World Cup just 15 months ago. As
Holland plumbed new depths here, Louis van Gaal’s stock just rose.
The equation was
straightforward but also frightening for Holland. They had to beat the
already-qualified Czechs and then hope and pray Iceland defeated Turkey in
Konya. Turkey won anyway, it wouldn’t have mattered.
As permutations
go, this one was bordering on the miraculous but still they came from all over
Holland, clad from head to toe in Oranje, to witness their team fight the dying
of the light.
If the pervading
mood was one of resignation, it certainly didn’t filter through to Blind’s
players, who launched a blitz start as they tried to fulfil their side of the
bargain as effortlessly as possible.
Decimated by
injuries at the worst possible time, this Dutch side was a delicate balance of
defensive youth and undiluted attacking might. While the inexperienced back
line had just 21 caps between them, the presence of Huntelaar, Memphis Depay
and Wesley Sneijder suggested it wouldn’t matter.
Inside the opening
60 seconds, Georginio Wijnaldum spotted Anwar El Ghazi wide on the right and
fed him the pass. The Ajax man drilled in a low shot that Petr Cech blocked
with his legs.
Possession was
all Holland’s early on and Sneijder was guilty of wasting a gilt-edged chance
when El Ghazi picked him out barely 10 yards out. Totally out of character, he
blazed it over.
Those misses
would be punished swiftly and brutally once the visitors got a feel for the
ball. There was almost a calamity by stand-in keeper Jeroen Zoet, only playing
in the absence of the injured Tim Krul and Jasper Cillessen, when he dropped a
Sural cross, getting off lightly when Gebre Selassie prodded over.
It was a mere
reprieve. From their next attack, good build-up play in the middle by Tomas
Necid an Jiri Skalak led to right-back Kaderabek being played into acres of
room on the right. He made no mistake, waiting for Zoet to commit before
shooting across him to the far corner.
You could almost
hear the clicking of television sets being turned off from Alkmaar to
Rotterdam. What was already a tall order was suddenly nigh on impossible.
The fans -
unequivocal in their backing early on - turned as their team retreated into a
shell and every backwards pass was whistled at ear-splitting volume.
When Van Persie
emerged from the bench to warm-up, he was given a standing ovation. It was
hardly a vote of confidence for Blind, who had also started the former
Manchester United star on the bench in Kazakhstan on Saturday.
Some Holland fans
tried to start a Mexican wave but only the Czechs joined in. It was flat and
about to get a whole lot worse.
If the space
afforded for the opener was embarrassing, the second was a downright disgrace.
Necid tossed the ball into the box and Sural was allowed to control it, flick
it past van Dijk and beat Zoet at his near post.
A fair few
decided to seek half-time refreshment 10 minutes early. No doubt some headed
straight for the station. Miracle was no longer a strong enough word for what
was required.
Van Persie was
introduced and offered fresh impetus, but it was the man who headed through the
Old Trafford entrance as he was pushed through the exit door, Depay, that
offered a glimmer of hope.
Surging through
the middle, Suchy clumsily slid in and brought him down. The last man, there
was no alternative for referee Damir Skomina but to show the red card.
To their immense
credit, Holland continued to press after the break but Van Persie lost his
footing when trying to volley a ball dropping over his shoulder and Depay
sliced a shot wide.
Van Persie has
looked pretty miserable ever since he wound up at Fenerbahce in the summer and
his season reached a new low when heading into his own net when not under any
pressure at all.
If any moment
summed up this qualification campaign of perpetual misery, that was it.
Holland pulled
one back almost instantly as Huntelaar headed home at the near post and in the
final 10 minutes, Van Persie partially atoned by netting his 50th international
goal, prodding home from close range.
The ArenA
speakers blasted out another burst of techno music but it was hideously
incongruous. Oranjeboom at the World Cup has become Oranjebust.
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