AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, Sept. 3 -- The Netherlands scored a much needed win, beating Bulgaria 3-1 in Sunday's World Cup qualifiers, but the mission remains difficult for the number three of the 2017 World Cup.
After losing 4-0 to France on Thursday in the Stade de France, the Dutch team must win all the remaining three matches: the ones against Bulgaria at home, Belarus away and at home against Sweden, preferably with a lot of goals.
"Oranje" set the first step with the 3-1 win over Bulgaria, one of their rivals for the second place in Group A, in the Amsterdam Arena.
Dutch head coach Dick Advocaat had to do without suspended Kevin Strootman, who received a red card on Thursday, and injured Robin van Persie, who had just made his comeback against France, and he put Wesley Sneijder on the bench after a disappointing performance in Saint-Denis. Tonny Vilhena (for Strootman), Kenny Tete (for Timothy Fosu-Mensah) and Davy Propper (for Sneijder) were the new names in the line-up.
Propper proved Advocaat made a good choice by opening the scoring in the 7th minute. The Brighton midfielder tipped in a cross from the left by Daley Blind. Before that goal captain Arjen Robben missed an opportunity for the Dutch and Vincent Janssen and Quincy Promes also had failed goal attempts. On the other side the Bulgarians came close with a header by Georgi Kostadinov on the post.
In the second half the home-team created more chances and extended the lead in the 67th minute through captain Robben. Two minutes after that goal Bulgaria pulled one back through a headed by Georgi Kostadinov. Propper added a second goal by heading in a cross by Quincy Promes 10 minutes from time to make it 3-1.
The Netherlands got the win they needed, but didn't get the big win they wanted. With Sweden beating Belarus 4-0 in Borisov through goals by Emil Forsberg, Christoffer Nyman, Marcus Berg and Andreas Granqvist their aim to finish second in the group remained difficult. Sweden now are on 16 points out of 8 matches, France are on 16 from 7, the Netherlands on 13 from 8 and Bulgaria on 12 from 8.
If France, which hosts Luxembourg later on Sunday night, claims the group victory and Sweden wins their next home match against Luxembourg and the Dutch beat Belarus the battle for the second place will be decided in the final encounter on October 10 in Amsterdam between the Netherlands and Sweden. The Dutch need a win to have a chance and also have to pass the Swedes on goal difference.
The goal difference of Sweden (+11) is at the moment far better than that of the Dutch (+5). And the eventual number two also has to be among the best runners-up. The nine winners of each European group will qualify for the World Cup in Russia, while the eight best runners-up will advance to the play-offs. So the Dutch are still in contention for a World Cup spot, but their position to get that spot did not get bigger.