Too Little Too Late? Netherlands Wins But Qualification Remains Almost Impossible
Too little, too late?
The Netherlands scored twice in the last 10 minutes to beat Belarus 3-1 on Saturday and keep alive extremely remote hopes of qualifying for the World Cup in Russia.
The narrow victory combined with Sweden's 8-0 thrashing of Luxembourg and Group A leader France's 1-0 win in Bulgaria means the Netherlands must beat Sweden by seven goals in Amsterdam on Tuesday to finish second in the group and have a chance of progressing to a playoff.
Memphis Depay scored from an injury-time free kick and Arjen Robben converted an 84th minute penalty.
Davy Proepper's first-half strike was cancelled out by Maksim Valadzko early in the second spell.
The Netherlands reached the semifinals of the last World Cup in Brazil and was losing finalist four years earlier in South Africa, but failed to qualify for last year's European Championship in France.
