Iceland caused a major upset on Thursday, beating a 10-man
Netherlands outfit 1-0 on a disastrous night for new coach Danny Blind, after
his captain Arjen Robben went off injured and Bruno Martins Indi was sent off
after 33 minutes.
In Blind's debut as national coach, Martins Indi was shown the
direct red card for making a striking movement with his arm as he tumbled to
the ground in a tackle with Kolbeinn Sigthhorsson.
Blind, a former fan favourite at Amsterdam Arena in his playing
days with Ajax, was loudly booed when he pulled off striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
and replaced him with Jeffrey Bruma in an attempt to shore up the Dutch
defence.
"This is not the scenario you have in mind for your first
match as Netherlands coach," Blind said.
The Netherlands travels to Turkey for a must-win match for both
teams on Sunday. Blind said Robben would not travel to Turkey, though he said
he did not know the nature of the injury.
"If you get four points from these two games, you have your
fate in your own hands," Blind said as he explained the Huntelaar
substitution on national broadcaster NOS.
Gylfi Sigurdsson converted a 51st-minute penalty for Iceland after
Gregory van der Wiel brought down Birkir Bjarnason.
In other Group A qualifiers, substitute Valerijs Sabala scored an
injury-time equaliser as Latvia drew 1-1 with Turkey, and Milan Skoda scored
both of his team's goals as the Czech Republic came from behind to beat
Kazakhstan 2-1.
The top two in each group qualify automatically for France. The
best third-placed team also qualifies automatically, and the other eight teams
can qualify through a playoff.
The results left Iceland top of the group ahead of the Czechs,
with the Netherlands third, a point ahead of Turkey.
"The reality is clear: We have to go for third place,"
Blind said.
Blind was highly critical of Martins Indi, saying his red card was
the turning point in the match and calling the defender's actions
"unbelievably unprofessional."
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