The Royal Netherlands Football Association on Sunday sacked head coach Danny Blind after the team’s 2-0 defeat to Bulgaria in their World Cup qualifying match on Saturday. The defeat against Bulgaria left Netherlands in fourth place in their World Cup qualifying group at the halfway stage.
Fifty-five-year-old Blind took over as coach from Guus Hiddink in 2015. However, he has had a fruitless two years in charge in which his side failed to qualify for the European Championships in France last year.
The Dutch FA said recent results left the team “with difficulty qualifying for the World Cup in Russia”. Fred Grim will take charge as interim coach when the Netherlands face Italy on Tuesday.
“We have respect for what Danny did for us and for the team during his tenure,” said Jean-Paul Decossaux, the football director of the Royal Netherlands Football Association. “But because the results unfortunately are disappointing, and as now it looks difficult to qualify for the World Cup in Russia, we feel unfortunately he has to take his leave.”
Blind said, “We were on the right track. Bulgaria away was an accident in my opinion. I’ve put my all into it. It’s a shame it ends like this.”
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