Blind encouraged by friendly displays

Netherlands coach Danny Blind is encouraged by Netherlands’ performances in friendlies against Poland and Austria.

Blind’s men failed to qualify for Euro 2016, finishing fourth behind Czech Republic, Iceland and Turkey in their group.

Dutch focus is now on making amends for falling short when the qualifying process for the 2018 World Cup gets under way in September.

The Dutch followed a 2-1 victory in Gdansk on Wednesday with a 2-0 win in Vienna on Saturday, and Blind says his side are showing signs of improvement.

“As a team we had more variety and were less predictable,” he said. “We started to see it against Poland. We attack and defend together.

“The variation, especially down the wings with [Quincy] Promes and [Steven] Berghuis is another difference from the Euro qualifiers.

“Promes played as I see him do in Russia on a weekly basis. I haven’t seen that with the national team before, but now I do.”

Blind added: “I’m glad we played two good games against pretty good opponents.

“We end with a nice feeling and don’t meet up again until August.”

Netherlands’ World Cup qualifying campaign begins against Sweden on September 6.