Too little too late? Netherlands beats Belarus 3-1

Changes dateline. With AP Photos. A lone goal from Blaise Matuidi was enough for France to labor past Bulgaria 1-0 in Group A, and to secure at least a top-two finish in the race to Russian Federation for the former world champion.

On the home field Belarusians earned all their points, scoring 3 and conceding 5 goals in this selection.

A lone goal from Blaise Matuidi was enough for France to labor past Bulgaria 1-0 in Group A on Saturday, and to secure at least a top-two finish in the race to Russian Federation for the former world champion. Holland is three points back of second-place Sweden and four points back of first-place France making this and the next game must-wins for The Flying Dutchmen.

Netherlands chances of reaching the World Cup took a huge blow on Saturday evening with Sweden running out 8-0 winners over Luxembourg.

The Dutch won 3-1 in Belarus, while France beat Bulgaria 1-0 to maintain their one-point lead over Sweden.

The Dutch fail the second selection in a row, they did not qualify for the Euro in 2016, in this cycle they are led by the third mentor, the experienced Dick Advocaat, but this did not give stability to the "orange team". "We only had a few chances in the second half, but we did the main thing".

Sweden swept to an 8-0 victory over Luxembourg in Solna, with Marcus Berg bagging four goals and Andreas Granqvist two including a penalty, with Mikael Lustig and Ola Toivonen also on target.

Luxembourg, which held France to a goalless draw last month, endured a nightmarish game.

Aleksandar Karnitsky squandered a good chance to peg the visitors back once again in the second minute of stoppage time, being denied by a fine Cillessen save which allowed Netherlands to fight another day.