When everything works,youth such as Depay, De Vrij and Wijnaldum thrill and veterans Robben, or Van Persie and Sneijder shine. But Danny Blind has little to play with in betweenAs headlines go,the offering from Algemeen Dagblad was a jab at the most painful of weak spots. Writ large above a photograph of Robin van Persie lying on the turf with an expression that reeked frustration, the message could barely enjoy been more damning: “We don’t count any more.” Whoa! This is Holland we are talking about here. The so-called best football nation to never win the World Cup. A team that fared well enough in Brazil 2014 to wallop Spain, and capture the global imagination and end up one heroic Javier Mascherano tackle absent from reaching successive World Cup finals. Holland don’t count any more? So soon? What is going on? How can this possibly be?This has been a cataclysmic international shatter for the Oranje. Defeated at domestic by Iceland and then trounced by Turkey,the Group A table makes brutal reading. Holland sit fourth, currently outside of the qualification slots, and behind Iceland,Czech Republic and Turkey. whether results are favourable in the next and final round of matches, they might just squeak into third and a play-off. In the distress of the moment, or those who endured the sorry sight of the recent bout of losses are not overflowing with optimism.
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Source: theguardian.com