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Turkey crush Holland 3-0 in Euro qualifier

Konya - Turkey scored twice in the opening half hour as it beat Holland 3-0 on Sunday to overtake the Dutch in the race for third place in European Championship qualifying Group A.

The defeat in Konya was the latest poor performance by a Dutch team that finished third at last year's World Cup but is now in real danger of missing out on Euro 2016.

Oguzhan Ozyakup put Turkey 1-0 up in the eighth minute, running onto a defence-splitting pass from Arda Turan and deftly chipping the ball over Jasper Cillessen.

Holland almost handed Turkey its second. Daley Blind failed to control a 26th-minute throw in, then was muscled off the ball by Turan, whose shot Cillessen should have saved.

Burak Yilmaz scored in the 85th from close range.

Holland were without injured captain Arjen Robben and coach Danny Blind gave Ajax defender Riedewald his international debut to replace Bruno Martins Indi, who was suspended after being sent off last Thursday in his team's 1-0 defeat to Iceland.

On the rare occasions that the Dutch did threaten Turkey's defence, the team's finishing let it down.

Right winger Luciano Narsingh shot straight at goalkeeper Volkan Babacan in the 14th with Memphis Depay and Wesley Sneijder both free in front of goal. Davy Klaassen twice failed to get headers on target after good crosses by Depay and substitute Georginio Wijnaldum headed another Depay cross wide when all alone in front of goal five minutes into the second half.

The two teams in each group qualify automatically, along with the best third-place team. The eight other sides to finish third then go to a playoff round.

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