Iceland’s team celebrate their victory over the Netherlands with their fans after their Euro 2016 qualifying match in Amsterdam.

 

DPA/Reykjavik


Football minnows Iceland are a win away from qualifying for Euro 2016 to reach a major football tournament for the first time following a second victory over the Netherlands.
Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson was among those to congratulate the team following a 1-0 win over the highly-fancied Dutch in Amsterdam Thursday evening.
“Now I am speechless. All I can say is congratulations guys and Iceland as a whole. Holland has scored in every game at home in every competition since 2007 - until now,” he wrote on Facebook.
Gylfi Sigurdsson converted a 51st-minute penalty to seal the win for Heimir Hallgrimsson and Lars Lagerback’s side, who are eight points above the Dutch in third place and two ahead of second-placed Czech Republic.
Now a win in Reykjavik on Sunday against Kazakhstan - bottom of the group - will secure Iceland a place in France next summer.
“I can’t describe this feeling. It won’t get any better than this,” goalkeeper Hannes Thor Halldorsson said.
“Winning a football game is the best feeling, and on that kind of moment, in Holland where we go a long way towards securing our place in France in front of 3,000 crazy Icelanders, that’s just once in a lifetime moment.”

‘played it bravely’
Co-coach Heimir Hallgrimsson told public broadcaster RUV: “We played this game bravely. We were maybe a bit too passive in the end. And this group of Icelanders who came here to support us is magnificent.
“Fortunately, when 1 per cent of the Icelandic population came here we could give them a victory. I hope they make it home because we need their support against Kazakhstan and they have to watch their voice.”
Although the Icelandic media is now confident of Euro 2016 qualification, Hallgrimsson struck a cautionary note.
“If Turkey win their games, they will be above us, that’s a fact,” he said.
“They can beat us with more than three goals and then they are above us. Let’s talk facts, not ifs and maybes. We will just have to win the Kazakhstan game at home on Sunday and we’re concentrating on that.”
Lagerback meanwhile enjoyed the rare win, which followed a 2-0 defeat of the Dutch in Reykjavik in October.
“In general, no team comes to Holland and takes three points. So this was a magnificent victory for us,” he said.
Goalscorer Gylfi Sigurdsson had already rehearsed in his mind the possibility of having to take a penalty.
“When I walked to the ball to take the penalty my first thought was:
Don’t miss!” he said.
“This was the first time I felt nervous before taking a penalty. I started to think too much ahead, that this penalty could secure our berth in the EC (Eurofinals).
“I had the feeling yesterday that we would get a penalty and yesterday I chose which corner I would shoot in. I didn’t change that tonight and fortunately, it went in.”
The daily Morgunbladid meanwhile called the result the biggest victory in the history of Icelandic football.
“Now I can, with thousands of other Icelanders, start looking and then ordering hotels in France,” a reporter wrote.
The daily Frettabladid said Iceland was now the only team to have defeated the Netherlands in both games in a qualification for a big tournament.
“David beat Goliath” was a headline in an editorial Friday. “With hard work, fight, being organised and glad, David managed to beat Goliath for the second time,” it wrote.



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