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Euro 2016 qualifiers: Netherlands qualifying hopes get hit by Iceland

The shock results just keep on coming.

World Cup semi-finalists the Netherlands’ hopes of qualifying for Euro 2016 took another blow on Monday (Oct 13) as a Gylfi Sigurdsson double gave Iceland a 2-0 win over the European giants. 

Iceland – who only just missed out on a place at their first ever World Cup finals when they lost in the play-offs for this year’s global showpiece – top Group A alongside the Czech Republic with a perfect nine points from three games while the Dutch, who lost to the Czechs in their opening qualifier, are six points adrift in third place.

Iceland's shocking win comes as Slovakia beat Spain 2-1 last week 

Sigurdsson put Iceland ahead in the 10th minute with a coolly taken penalty after Gregory van der Wiel had fouled Birkir Bjarnason. 

It was not as if the Dutch had no chances to level the scores, skipper Robin van Persie and fellow veteran Arjen Robben had excellent chances to score midway through the first-half but the former saw his effort saved by Hannes Halldorsson while the latter was off target.


Robben was unable to prevent the Dutch from losing to Iceland. Photo: AFP

They were left to regret those misses as the sparkling Sigurdsson added a second three minutes before the break, the Swansea City player tucking the ball away when the Dutch defence failed to deal with a corner.

He has been in fine form for Iceland, that goal was his fourth in his last three games.

Dutch coach Guus Hiddink's attempt to turn things round at half-time by replacing Wesley Sneijder with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, but to no avail.​

Source: AFP

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