netherlands claim crucial win in kazakhstan published: saturday 10 october 2015, 20.12cet kazakhstan 1-2 netherlands georginio wijnaldum and wesley sneijder scored as danny blind's men returned to winning ways in group a and contention for third place.
georginio wijnaldum nets first-half opener; wesley sneijder doubles dutch advantage robin van persie makes 100th appearance; ıslambek kuat hits added-time consolation kenny tete, virgil van dijk and anwar el ghazi make oranje debuts netherlands climb to third with fourth group a success final games: latvia v kazakhstan, netherlands v czech republic (tuesday)
georginio wijnaldum and wesley sneijder scored as the netherlands returned to winning ways in group a, beating kazakhstan 2-1 in astana to keep their uefa euro 2016 hopes alive.
danny blind introduced three debutants in kenny tete, virgil van dijk and anwar el ghazi, but left oranje leading marksman robin van persie on the bench after losing his first two games as coach without scoring in september.
needing a victory to bridge the two-point gap between themselves and third-placed turkey – occupiers of the play-off berth – the dutch took the initiative from the off. on seven minutes el ghazi forced kazakhstan goalkeeper stas pokatilov into a save before nodding wide shortly after. the hosts responded via konstantin engel, although their only shot on target of the first half failed to trouble dutch custodian tim krul.
the netherlands kept on pushing and on 30 minutes memphis depay squandered a glorious opening when clean through, the winger unable to test pokatilov. three minutes later, though, wijnaldum broke the deadlock. the newcastle midfielder found the bottom corner from outside the box with a left-footed drive after good work by el ghazi.
things did not improve for kazakhstan as the visitors extended their lead shortly after the interval. skipper sneijder latched onto klaas-jan huntelaar's pass inside the area before firing a left-footed effort into the centre of the goal. el ghazi was denied a maiden goal moments later as yuri krasnozhan's charges cleared his attempt off the line.
with the points seemingly assured, van persie came on to make his 100th appearance, though the dutch were given a fright when ıslambek kuat struck a 96th-minute kazakh consolation. even so, blind's men held on to climb into third – temporarily at least – a point above play-off rivals turkey.
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