Amsterdam, Oct 12: The Netherlands, who were within a penalty shootout victory of reaching the 2014 World Cup final, now stand on the brink of missing the European Championships for the first time since 1984.
Winners of their only major tournament in 1988, when Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit inspired them to continental victory over Russia in Germany, their fall from grace has been one of football's greatest mysteries as they now stare Euro 2016 elimination squarely in the face.
Euro semi-finalists in 2000 and 2004, quarter-finalists in 2008, they were only beaten by an Andres Iniesta extra-time goal in the 2010 World Cup final by Spain, before their run to the last four in Brazil, last summer, where Argentina defied them after a 0-0 draw after 120 minutes in Sao Paulo.
Guus Hiddink was the man entrusted to guide them through qualifying for the 24-team tournament that will feature in France for the first time in a format that seemed to appear a formality for Europe's regular contenders.
However two defeats in their three opening matches against the Czech Republic and Iceland made their task difficult and their record of four wins, four defeats and a draw leaves the Dutch two points behind Turkey with one game to play.     AFP