Euro: Wales must wait; Netherlands woe
Wales must wait to see whether they can secure Euro 2016 qualification on Sunday after being held to a 0-0 home draw by Israel.
Chris Coleman’s side, who will still make it through before the next qualifiers are played if Belgium fail to win in Cyprus later on Sunday, made a whirlwind start in front of a packed and noisy crowd at the Cardiff City Stadium.
They missed an early chance to take the lead when Aaron Ramsey headed over from close range after Andy King’s shot, following a pass by defender Jazz Richards, had been stopped by Ofir Martziano.
Shortly before the hour mark, Gareth Bale fired over from a free-kick awarded for a push marginally outside the penalty area, and the home side should have had a penalty when Bale’s inswinging cross hit defender Eitan Tibi on the arm — but the referee waved away strong appeals.
Substitute Simon Church thought he had won it in injury time, but he was offside when heading home Bale’s flick-on.
Netherlands‘ hopes are hanging by a thread after they slumped to a 3-0 defeat in Turkey.
Danny Blind’s side got off to the worst possible start when, with less than 10 minutes on the clock, they were behind thanks to Oguzhan Ozyakup’s finish.
They missed a great chance to equalise when Memphis Depay and Robin van Persie set up Wesley Sneijder, who fired his effort too close to the goalkeeper.
And they were made to pay when Arda Turan fired home at the near post, with goalkeeper Jesper Cillessen unconvincing. Georginio Wijnaldum missed a chance to pull one back before the home side added a late third when Burak Yilmaz struck.
Czech Republic moved to the top of Group A after a 2-1 win in Latvia.
The struggling Latvians, with only four points from their qualifying campaign, were behind after 13 minutes when David Limbersky struck.
Before half an hour had been played, the Czechs doubled their advantage through Vladimir Darida, but Arturs Zjuzins sparked an anxious finale for the visitors when he pulled a goal back with 17 minutes remaining.
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