£3m Rangers ace sees World Cup dream falter as ex-Celtic favourite plays major role in thumping victory

The 24-year-old, who moved to Ibrox from Go Ahead Eagles for a fee of around £3million in the summer, is hoping to play a role in taking his national team to the first World Cup in their history, but now face an almost impossible task after suffering a 4-0 thrashing to the Dutch in their crucial qualification clash at the Johan Cruijff Arena.

Entering the game level on points with Poland in second place, and three points behind group leaders the Netherlands, the Finnish national team were hoping to secure a positive result in the Dutch capital, and put themselves in contention for at least a second round playoff spot after beating Lithuania 2-1 on Thursday night.

However, their hopes were almost immediately dashed when Aston Villa playmaker Donyell Malen fired the home side into the lead after just eight minutes, before ex-Celtic favourite Virgil van Dijk escaped his marker at the far post and sent a downward header into the bottom corner to double the lead for Ronald Koeman’s team.

The Netherlands effectively ended the game as a contest just before the half-time break when Memphis Depay scored from the spot after Miroslav Tenho was adjudged to have handled the ball in the area. A neat one-two between Antman and Aberdeen star Topi Keskinen almost resulted in the latter reducing the deficit in first-half injury time, only for Frenkie de Jong to provide a crucial block. That was as good as it got for the visitors, though, with Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo completing the rout on 84 minutes.

Taken off in the 70th minute of the game, the result and performance capped off a disappointing few weeks for Antman, who has struggled for form in the early days of his Rangers career. Starting just three league games since his arrival at Ibrox, he is yet to spark into life in Glasgow.

With Group G rivals Poland enjoying a comfortable 2-0 win against Lithuania in the group’s other game, Finland are now six points behind the Netherlands, and three points behind Poland, on 10 points with just one game left. Jacob Friis’ side must now hope Poland lose both of their two remaining qualifiers against Malta and the Netherlands in November, respectively, whilst beating Malta themselves in their final group clash - all while overturning an 11 goal deficit, meaning their World Cup dream is all but over for another four years.

Elsewhere in World Cup qualifying, former Rangers man Ianis Hagi helped Romania keep his nation’s hopes of making next summer’s World Cup alive, providing a pin-cross cross for Virgil Ghiță to head home in the 94th minute as they secured a dramatic 1-0 win over Austria in Bucharest. Currently in third place in Group H, they are just three points behind second-placed Bosnia and Herzegovina, who they face next in a crunch clash at Zenica’s Bilino Polje Stadion next month.

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