Danny Blind has been sacked as manager of The Netherlands, as the European giant's troubles continue.
The Dutch currently lie in fourth place in Group A of the World Cup qualifiers and look unlikely to qualify for Russia 2018, despite reaching the semi-finals in 2014, and were runners-up in 2010.
Since the 2014 World Cup, the Dutch have been in disarray, failing to qualify for the 24-team European Championships in France last summer, and look set to miss out on their first World Cup since 2002.
Blind was Guus Hiddink's assistant in 2014, but replaced the former Real Madrid manager a year later after Hiddink was sacked. The former Ajax captain was not able to lead the Dutch to Euro 2016, but kept his job for the current campaign.
In their opening five games of the qualification campaign, the Dutch suffered a home loss to France, and then lost 2-0 to Bulgaria in Sofia on Friday night, in what was a must-win game.
After the defeat in Sofia, the KNVB (Dutch FA) decided to sack the former Ajax manager. He has been replaced by his assistant Fred Grim for the friendly against Italy on Tuesday night.
Grim, a former Netherlands Under-21 manager, worked with Blind at Ajax, where he worked as a goalkeeping coach.
In a statement released by the KNVB on Sunday night, Jean Paul Decossaux the association's football director said; "Because the sporting results are disappointing and it will now be difficult to qualify for the World Cup in Russia, we feel unfortunately we have to say goodbye to him."
A post shared by Daley Blind (@blinddaley) on
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