Robin van Persie: 'I'm happy with 100th cap, but I wanted start'

Robin van Persie has admitted that his 100th Netherlands cap was marred by the fact that he started on the bench in Saturday's 2-1 win away to Kazakhstan in Euro 2016 qualifying.

Van Persie, 32, reached centurion status with a three-minute cameo after replacing Klaas Jan Huntelaar, with goals from Georginio Wijnaldum and Wesley Sneijder in either half enough to earn a much-needed three points.

Coach Danny Blind suggested that a lack of fitness was behind his decision to bench the Fenerbahce forward, but the former Arsenal and Manchester United man disagrees.

"The important thing is that we won," he told De Telegraaf. "But I would have rather started.

"I'm very fit. I often played with aches for the Netherlands, but that was not the case today. But again, it's not all about me. It's about winning for the team."

The victory briefly saw Blind's men - who cannot qualify automatically - move into third spot in Group A with one qualifier left, before Turkey beat Czech Republic to reclaim it.

The Oranje need to beat the Czechs and hope that leaders Iceland win away to Turkey on Tuesday in order to secure a playoff spot.