Dutch football coach fired after dramatic World Cup qualifier loss
Dutch football association KNVB dismissed Danny Blind as the coach of the national team after a dramatic 2-0 loss against Bulgaria in the World Cup qualifiers on Saturday. The KNVB made this decision on Sunday after hours long consultations between technical director Hans van Breukelen and Blind, NOS reports.
KNVB commercial director Jean Paul Decossaux said that the association is regretfully taking leave of Blind. "We have respect for Danny and what he has meant for us and for the team during his time here. But because the sporting results are unfortunately disappointing, and now the progress to the World Cup is also difficult, we unfortunately feel forced to take leave of him."
Blind, 55, also gave a short reaction. "We were on the right track, Bulgaria was as far as I'm concerned an incident. I gave it everything I had. It's too bad it ends with this."
Danny Blind was coach for the Netherlands for 20 months. In the 2014/2015 season he worked as assistant coach with Guus Hiddink. He became the head coach in August 2015. He started with two dramatic defeats - 0-1 against Iceland and 0-3 against Turkey. Under Blind Oranje did not qualify for the European Championships of last year. This defeat against Bulgaria dropped Oranje to the fourth position in group A, which means that qualifying for the World Cup is still out of reach.
