Sluggish Dutch lose to Turks

ISTANBUL • The Netherlands suffered a "terrible" blow in losing to Turkey at the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign on Wednesday, their coach Frank de Boer has admitted.

A hat-trick from striker Burak Yilmaz and a goal from Hakan Calhanoglu helped the home team to a 4-2 win in Istanbul, after the Dutch had threatened a comeback as they fought back to 3-2 from 3-0 down thanks to goals from Davy Klaassen and Luuk de Jong.

"This is a very disappointing result and a blow, but it was only the first of the 10 qualifiers that we will play so we now have to make sure we don't drop anymore points," de Boer said after the Group G match.

"They were a good opponent, but certainly not one that we had to lose to. We knew that they are on the lookout for counter-attacks and their first goal was a textbook example of that.

"We needed to foul so that they could not make the transition but that did not happen."

The 50-year-old also bemoaned the pace of his team's play.

"It seemed like we were not that aggressive or alert," he said.

"We have to keep up the positivity, however, because things can change fast in football. We have to turn on the switch and with the experience of the boys, I'm sure they will do just that.

"We think this is terrible, but I'm not standing here with tears in my eyes. We must do much better."

The defeat is a dreadful start to the campaign for the Dutch, who failed to qualify for either Euro 2016 or the 2018 World Cup, but are one of the favourites ahead of the delayed Euro 2020 Finals this year.

They have lost four of their last nine World Cup qualifying matches, having been unbeaten in their previous 34 such games.

De Boer's men will host Latvia tomorrow and visit Gibraltar on Tuesday.

Turkey coach Senol Gunes believes that his team had negotiated their toughest World Cup qualifying game very well in a group that also includes Norway.

It was their second straight win over the Netherlands, after a 3-0 victory in 2015 which helped them qualify for the Euros ahead of the Oranje.

"This was the first and also the most important game on the way to Qatar," said Gunes, who was coach when Turkey reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2002.

"We really played at the top level, we did exactly what we had to do. We managed to disrupt the attacking game of the Netherlands."

Turkey play Norway in neutral Malaga tomorrow before hosting Latvia on Tuesday.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE