Dutch home woes continue as Greece take scalp

Eindhoven (Netherlands) (AFP) – The Netherlands suffered a fifth successive home defeat as their miserable form continued with a 2-1 defeat to fellow strugglers Greece in Eindhoven on Thursday.

Both sides were top seeds for Euro 2016 qualifying but neither managed to make it to the French showpiece as the Netherlands finished fourth in their group while Greece managed to come bottom of a pool including the Faroe Islands.

Just five days before opening their World Cup qualifying campaign, Danny Blind’s Oranje remain in crisis after this debacle.

They have not won at home since defeating Spain, at the time the European champions, 2-0 in March 2015.

Although they came into this match on the back of wins against Austria (2-0) and Poland (2-1) on their travels, the Dutch are suffering from a deficiency of confidence at home.

Liverpool forward Georginio Wijnaldum opened the scoring for the hosts on 13 minutes, converting a cross from Vincent Janssen, but for the most part he was isolated on his own up front.

Captained by Wesley Sneijder, the Netherlands seemed in control until Kostas Mitroglou was left unmarked to head home on 29 minutes.

Greece were organised in a rugged defensive display and waited for their opportunities on the counter-attack.

When one came on 73 minutes, they struck as Giannis Gianniotas lashed home on the volley after a mistake from goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet.

Blind will be hoping for more backbone from his side when they begin their qualifying campaign away to Sweden on Tuesday, while Greece are buoyed going into their trip to minnows Gibraltar the same day.