It was mission impossible for the Netherlands national team ahead of their final World Cup qualifier against Sweden on Tuesday night.With France leading the way at the top of Group A and Sweden second on 19 points, Dick Advocaat's side needed to win 7-0 at the Amsterdam Arena. Speaking ahead of the encounter, Advocaat insisted winning by such a margin was possible, whereas Arjen Robben took a more realistic approach.Advocaat said in a press conference: "7-0 is possible. Sweden have just beaten Luxembourg 8-0 so why can't we do the same to them.Robben, on the other hand, admitted: "It's over. Mathematically it's still possible of course, but we need a miracle."Despite his pessimism, Robben - who was seen crying during the national anthem - gave his all against Sweden and even handed Netherlands a 2-0 lead heading into half-time.The Bayern Munich man capped perhaps his last ever international game with a 16th-minute penalty and a screamer five minutes from the break.For the second, Ryan Babel found Robben on the edge of the 18-yard box to curl a stunning strike into the far-right corner.Robben will only hope his final ever appearance for the Netherlands will be remembered not for failing to qualify for the World Cup, but for his brace and everything he's done for his country.
However, there could be some bad news on that front, because the penalty he scored was somewhat fortuitous.With the scores level at 0-0, the pressure was on Robben to give the Netherlands the lead from the penalty spot and spark the impossible.And while he did just that, the Panenka he produced as actually pretty awful.In the video below, Robben's attempted chip down the middle veers off to the right and is almost saved by Sweden's goalkeeper. Check it out.
WORST PANENKA EVER SCORED?
How did the goalkeeper not save that? Robben's penalty almost went disastrously wrong but because he scored it, some football fans think it's the worst Panenka ever scored.