Euro 2008 Qualifying: Iceland Own Northern Ireland, Other Games Happen

By: Martha | September 13th, 2007

VICTORY! Group F minnows Iceland may not be able to beat Lichtenstein or Latvia, but give them a match against Northern Ireland — third in the group behind joint leaders Sweden and Spain — and they’ll bring home a win every damn time.

After his side demolished Northern Ireland 3-0 at their place in the opening game of qualifying, Iceland coach Eyjólfur Sverrisson knew their opponents would make some changes ahead of Wednesday’s match. Ah, but what changes? To answer that question, Sverrisson went where everyone else goes for answers: The wide, wide world of web. According to his post-match interviews, the Iceland gaffer read online that Northern Ireland were going to press his team, so he prepared them accordingly, focusing primarily on midfield strength. And, voila, a 2-1 win! Let that be a lesson to you, coaches: Don’t tell the internets about your tactics if you’re playing an opponent who can read.

And in other, less exciting results …

Ukraine 1, Italy 2: It was a terrifying game for Italy fans, with Andriy Shevchenko nearly breaking the crossbar in the third minute and generally making a nuisance of himself, but two goals from Antonio Di Natale and a great performance from keeper Gigi Buffon were enough to earn the Azzurri all three points. Thanks to Scotland’s win over France, Italy are now second in Group B, a point behind the Scots and one ahead of France.

Albania 0, Netherlands 1: Freaking Van Nistelrooy.

Norway 2, Greece 2: Defending European Champions Greece (It still boggles my mind, too.) stayed top of Group C thanks to a first-half brace from Sotirios Kyrgiakos. Also, I’d like to take this opportunity to say how awesome it is that the Greek FA kept Otto Rehhagel on despite his failure to qualify for the team for the World Cup. Three cheers for patience with coaches who lead you to miracle wins.

Spain 2, Latvia 0: Spain recovered from the weekend draw with Iceland (Iceland! Again!) with a convincing win over Latvia to stay top of their group, and at least slightly lessen the panic at home for a little while. For the conspiracy theorists among you, coach Luis Aragonés was missing from the post-game press conference. Hmmm.

More on England-Russia and Portugal-Serbia later; you can peruse all the results at the fully OCD UEFA website.