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Cruyff: Holland must learn qualifying lessons

Tuesday, September 10, 2013 by Fox Sports

Holland's qualification for Brazil 2014 is not under threat, but lessons need to be learned ahead of Tuesday's game with Andorra, according to Oranje great Johan Cruyff.

A 2-2 draw with Estonia on Friday put the skids on their charge towards a 100 per cent record, but even after dropping their first points they remain six points clear of second in Group D.

Their flights to Brazil can be booked on Tuesday if they win and Romania do not beat Turkey, or failing that a draw will do provided Romania lose and Hungary do not beat Estonia.

Cruyff remains relaxed about their chances but has warned that improvements need to be made after they failed to get the job done against Estonia.

Writing a column in De Telegraaf, he said: "It does not hurt the team that it drew with Estonia. We could have gone undefeated (won every game) and been the first (European) country qualified.

"But for the World Cup that would have given a distorted picture of the strength of the team.

"Against Estonia it became clear there is still much work to do.

"The classification is not in danger, but sometimes you get something which convinces people things are not as good as they seem."

It would take a real blow-up for Holland to miss out on the World Cup, but coach Louis van Gaal is hoping they are more alive in Andorra then they were against Estonia.

A late Robin van Persie penalty saved the day on that occasion and the well-travelled coach said: "I am glad we had the spirit to come back and fortunately we got a penalty which allowed us to draw the game 2-2.

"We cannot be satisfied with that. I have an ambition to go to the World Cup with this group of players and we need to improve."

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