Let's get a good feeling again: de Jong

AMSTERDAM • Frenkie de Jong has warned his Dutch teammates that they must get their World Cup qualifying campaign back on track and get a "good feeling" again by beating Latvia at home today.

The Netherlands lost their opening match 4-2 in Turkey on Wednesday, which led to plenty of criticism from the Dutch media.

Speaking to media outlet NOS, the Barcelona midfielder believes that his team must do more if they are to advance from Group G, which includes Norway.

"If we play like (Wednesday), we will not get through the group," the 23-year-old said. "But I'm not so afraid that it will happen, because generally, this is just not our normal level. We really know what we did wrong, we also realise it. We discussed it well. Now we just move on."

The Netherlands, who are 14th in the Fifa world rankings, will face world No. 195 Gibraltar on Tuesday after the match against 136th-ranked Latvia.

De Jong added that he would have liked their next two opponents to be on a stronger level, explaining: "You are just obliged to win against Latvia and Gibraltar.

"You prefer to be able to take revenge against a really big country. But besides that, you just want to get a good feeling again, by winning."

It is still early days in the qualifiers, but Frank de Boer's men cannot afford to lose again if they are to avoid a repeat of their failed World Cup 2018 qualifying campaign. The Dutch also missed out on qualifying for Euro 2016.

They have won just two of their last eight games in all competitions, but have struck at least two goals in their last three games.

On paper, Latvia are the clear underdogs. The Netherlands have won all three of their previous meetings, each with a clean sheet. The last time they met was a 2-0 European Championship qualifying win for the Oranje in 2015.

Dutch goalkeeper Tim Krul should keep his place today after Jasper Cillessen injured himself in the warm-up against Turkey.

Manchester United's Donny van de Beek and Ajax's Ryan Gravenberch are also ready to be called upon if needed.

In Group A, Serbia and Portugal will be aiming to build on opening-day victories when they do battle at the Stadion Rajko Mitic.

Portugal coach Fernando Santos insisted his star forward Cristiano Ronaldo is not affected by his club Juventus' recent slump in form.

The Italian champions were knocked out in the Champions League last 16 by Porto earlier this month, with the 36-year-old bearing much of the criticism.

"Ronaldo is an important player, probably the best in the world. I don't think he has any problem in terms of mentality at the moment," Santos told Sky Sports.

In Group E, the Czech Republic and Belgium are also looking to make it back-to-back wins when they lock horns in Prague.

World No. 1 Belgium are the overwhelming favourites to top the group, while the Czechs have not qualified for the World Cup since 2006.