Iceland’s and Canada’s men’s football (soccer) teams met at Laugardalsvöllur stadium in Reykjavík yesterday for a friendly game. Emil Hallfredsson scored for Iceland in the 50th minute and Olivier Occean for Canada 15 minutes later.
“It was a tough match and a good test for us,” Canada’s coach Dale Mitchell told CBC Canada. “We went down a goal. But we had a good reaction to the goal, which was the most pleasing thing. The guys showed good resiliency and an ability to bounce back.”
Iceland’s coach Eyjólfur Sverrisson was also pleased with the game. “The spirit of the team was consistent with what we had set out with […] and we made no momentous mistakes. The goal they [Canada] scored was the only open chance they got during the game and we should have won,” he told Morgunbladid.
Sverrisson said the mindset of the team had changed since suffering previously devastating losses. “We discussed it thoroughly before the game that they should be proud to play for Iceland and they expressed that on the field.”
