Iceland suffered a devastating setback in last night’s European Championship qualifying match when it lost 3-0 against Liechtenstein. Pressure mounts on Eyjólfur Sverrisson, the national coach, to resign.
Mario Frick scored the first goal for Liechtenstein in the 27th minute. The Icelandic side had a few changes to equalize but when Thomas Beck scored two more goals in the 80th and the 83rd minute, their hopes were dashed altogether. Liechtenstein is currently in 142nd place on FIFA ranking list while Iceland sits at 80th place. Morgunbladid daily therefore described last night’s results as the “worst blow Iceland has suffered since 14:2,” referring to the score of an epic match against Denmark in 1967.
This is the second European Championship qualifier in a row in which Iceland has been defeated. Last Saturday it lost 2-4 to Latvia in Reykjavík. After 11 matches played, Iceland is in second to last place in Group F with eight points. Liechtenstein sits on the bottom with seven points.
Pressure on the national coach Eyjólfur Sverrisson to resign was already mounting before the match against Liechtenstein, but after last night’s disastrous outcome the media has lambasted the team’s performance in general and Sverrisson’s tactics in particular. However, Geir Thorsteinsson, the president of the Icelandic Football Association (KSÍ) declared after the match that Sverrisson would coach the team until the qualifying stages for the European Championship are over.
Iceland’s last match is against Denmark on November 21.
