Arrogance comes before the fall, hope grows before the final: The national teams of the Netherlands and Turkey made the World Cup qualification group G exciting on Saturday evening before the final countdown on Tuesday.

After the 2-2 draw of the Dutch after a 2-0 lead in Montenegro, the leader of the table (20 points) can even beat the Turks who won 6-0 against Gibraltar in Istanbul and the Norwegians, who disappointed 0-0 against Latvia in Oslo, despite a two-point advantage still gamble away the within reach of the 2022 World Cup participation in Qatar.

In the event of a home defeat in Rotterdam against the Scandinavians and a simultaneous victory in Montenegro for the Turkish team, supervised by German coach Stefan Kuntz, the Turks and Norwegians would make up first and second place.

Currently, the two teams with 18 points each have only one goal in favor of Turkey in the table.

As so often, Oranje felt as good as she had reached her destination with a touch of arrogance.

Are you kidding me? Are you serious when you say that.

The two goals of Memphis Depay, who was storming for FC Barcelona, ​​for a 2-0 lead (25th minute and penalty kick / 54th) were not enough to win.

The strong Montenegrins equalized in the final phase to the horror of the favorites by Vukotic (82nd) ​​and Vujnovic (86th).

The 70-year-old Louis van Gaal, who was the Elftal coach for the third time, was horrified.

"I can't explain it to myself," said the bond coach, who used to be more of a global player in football, after what felt like a heavy defeat in the Balkans.

Depay, the king of marksmen in World Cup qualification with eleven goals, was appalled.

“That’s stupid, that’s a hard blow,” he said of the playful victory.

"We're leaving ourselves, the fans who traveled with us and the fans at home in the lurch."

Optimism in Turkey

Defender Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool FC) gave himself and his colleagues a damning verdict when he attested the team to have played “outrageously” in the second half. If the worst comes to the worst, the Dutch will not feel the concentrated displeasure of their own supporters, as the encounter in the De Kuip stadium will be a "ghost game" in front of empty stands, whether the fourth wave of corona infections is also rampant in the Netherlands.

In contrast to the disillusioned German neighbors, there is optimism in Turkey after the clear mandatory victory over the pointless group last Gibraltar. After the hits from Aktürkoglu (11th minute), Dervisoglu (38th / 41st), Demiral (65th), Dursun (81st) and Müldür (84th), von Kuntz, the two-time European champion coach of the German U21 team, looks (2017/2021), looked after the team full of confidence towards the final countdown in Montenegro. The team, still unsettled when Kuntz made the 1-1 draw against Norway, has stabilized with the last-minute away win in Latvia (2-1).

The 59-year-old Saarlander was “proud” of his players on Saturday.

"It was a great pleasure to watch them from the sideline." The team succeeded so much against their opponents, who were additionally weakened by Olivera-Mascarenhas' dismissal after a serious foul, that Turkey, thanks to their six goals, beat the Norwegians, who only beat Latvia in Oslo reached a 0-0, surpassed the goal difference.

Participation in the play-off games to reach the 2022 World Cup seems possible, but direct qualification is not excluded.

Who would have thought that when Kuntz took office after the sobering premiere?