Van Persie won't celebrate 100th Netherlands cap

Robin van Persie is set to win his 100th Netherlands
cap but he says his sole focus is on trying to secure a
place at Euro 2016.

Robin van Persie admits celebrating his 100th cap will be far
from his mind if the Netherlands fail to reach the Euro 2016
finals.

Danny Blind's side head into their clash with Kazakhstan
knowing that anything less than a win will see them miss out on
a play-off spot, while they must also rely on Turkey to drop
points against either the Czech Republic or Iceland.

Van Persie is in line to reach a century of senior international
appearances but the Fenerbahce striker says it is hard to think
positively about his experiences given their current predicament.

"This week, I've not remembered one of the beautiful things I've
experienced with Oranje," he told Algemeen Dagblad.

"In a normal situation I'd have liked to, but now it feels
inappropriate, I think."

Head coach Blind, meanwhile, claimed his side are not feeling
any nerves despite the importance of securing a victory and
insisted playing on an artificial surface in Astana will be no
excuse for a poor performance.

"We just have to win. That doesn't change the pressure," he
said.

"The pitch is no issue. Most of our players have experience on
artificial turf. We're not nervous. We'll play our own game.
"They'll have a lot of people behind the ball. We have to do the
things we have to do.

"It's always bad if you fall behind. We need intense
concentration, especially at set-pieces. It's important that we
take the lead.

"We started as group favourites. We know the results have been
disappointing."