MINSK, Nov 21 - The Netherlands slumped to a 2-1
defeat at Belarus in their final Euro 2008 Group G qualifier on
Wednesday.
Vitaly Bulyga opened the scoring for the home team five
minutes into the second half before Vladimir Korytko made it 2-0
15 minutes later against the Dutch, who had already qualified
for the finals.
Rafael van der Vaart pulled one back for the Dutch a minute
from time with a neat lob from the edge of the box over the
outstretched arms of Belarus goalkeeper Yuri Zhevnov.
The Netherlands made sure of reaching next year's finals in
Austria and Switzerland by beating bottom team Luxembourg 1-0 on
Saturday. Romania are the other team to have made it through
from Group G.
"If we play without any focus and concentration like we did
in the second half we are just an average team" Dutch coach
Marco van Basten told RTL7 television.
"I am disappointed about the second half. On this level you
have to give everything and that counts for everyone."
The defeat could prove to be an advantage for the Dutch as
they could miss out on being one of the top seeds for the finals
next year provided Germany beat Wales later on Wednesday.
MISS OUT
Based on their qualifying results for both Euro 2008 and the
2006 World Cup, the team with the highest coefficient (points
won divided by matches played) will be placed in a four-team pot
of "top seeds" alongside co-hosts Austria and Switzerland, and
champions Greece.
The team in question will therefore miss out on playing the
Greeks, Swiss and Austrians -- ranked 14th, 41st and 88th in
FIFA's world rankings -- and instead be drawn into a group
including one of the other top five finishers.
Van Basten made several changes in his starting line-up but
the visitors still dominated for much of the game played in
freezing conditions in the Belarus capital.
They wasted several chances in the second half, while Ryan
Babel hit the crossbar late in the game.
The Dutch finished a point ahead of third-placed Bulgaria.
(Reporting by Timofei Zinovyev; writing by Gennady Fyodorov;
editing by Pritha Sarkar)