Despite scoring six goals on Latvia, the Dutch national team suffered a huge loss after left-back Daley Blind went down with a major injury on Sunday.

Having lost two qualifier matches out of their first three and Dutch national coach Guus Hiddink threatening to quit if things did not improve, Arjen Robben and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored two goals apiece while Robin van Persie and Jeffrey Bruma added salt to Latvia's wounds with two more goals for the blowout victory. But van Persie's Manchester United teammate Blind went down early with a knee injury after challenging Latvia's Eduards Visnakovs for the ball in the 20th minute of the match, forcing him out of the game.

"It doesn't look good," said Hiddink after the match. "It's his medial ligament. It could be a strain, but it could also be a tear. So that's a big blow."

The Netherlands ended the day in third place in Group A with six points while Latvia sits in fifth place with two points. The Dutch team is playing catch-up against first-place Czech Republic (12 points) who defeated now-second-place Iceland (nine points) by a score of 2-1 after their opponent self-destructed late in the match. Iceland started off hot with a goal by Ragnar Sigurdsson in the ninth minute before Pavel Kaderabek tied it up a minute into the first half stoppage time. But Iceland winger Jon Dadi Bodvarsson doomed his team with an own-goal in the 61st minute to give the Czech Republic the victory, wasting an opportunity for the Scandinavian team to take the lead in Group A.

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Fourth-place Turkey (four points) notched their first victory of the Euro 2016 qualifier campaign beating Kazakhstan (1 points) 3-1 at home at Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul thanks to Galatasaray striker Burak Yilmaz's two goals in the 27th and 29th minute.

With A.S. Roma's Daniele De Rossi celebrating his 100th cap with the "Azzurri," Italy and Croatia battled for the top stop in Group H but ended the day with 1-1 draw. Italy struck first after Antonio Candreva blasted a shot from outside the box in the 11th minute. But Croatia's Ivan Perisic's equalized the match in the 15th minute after he rocketed a shot past Italian keeper Gianluigi Buffon, in a game that was marred with flares being thrown onto the pitch that caused delays.

"I feel I need to talk about the off-field incidents," said Croatian coach Niko Kovac. "I am very disappointed about our supporters' behavior, something which had already happened in Switzerland in a previous match. That's why I wanted to say sorry to everyone for their behavior and actions. I have already said sorry to those on the pitch, the referee and the Italian players but I wanted to do it again here. I am truly sorry for our fans' behavior."

Italy vs Croatia

Both unbeaten Croatia and Italy have 10 points and remain unbeaten, but Croatia has the lead in Group H via point differential. Third-place Norway (nine points) kept pace on Sunday with the two teams after beating Azerbaijan on the road at Tofiq Bahramov Stadium in Baku. Norway defender Havard Nordtveit headed Stefan Johansen's corner kick past Azerbaijani keeper Salahat Agayev to seal the 1-0 win. Fifth-place Malta (one points) scored their first goal of their qualifier campaign in a 1-1 draw against fourth-place Bulgaria (four points). Clayton Failla tied the game for Malta in the 50th minute to eke out a draw and give Malta their first point of the tournament.

Israel stayed undefeated on Sunday beating 2014 World Cup participant Bosnia-Herzegovina 3-0 at Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv as they continue their quest to qualify into their first European Championship tournament. Israel's victory gives them control of Group B with nine points as they try stave off an unbeaten Wales who finished the day with eight points after a 0-0 draw against fourth-place Belgium (five points) despite Garth Bale's best efforts to break the tie. Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois made six saves to help Belgium perserve the shutout.

Third-place Cyprus, who finished the day with six points, rolled over last-place Andorra (zero points) beating them 5-0 thanks to APOEL winger Georgios Efrem's hat trick to help his team keep up with Israel and Wales while staying ahead of World Cup qualifier Belgium.

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