Iceland lost against Portugal 1-3 in the preliminary round of the European Championship in Football at Laugardalsvöllur stadium in Reykjavík yesterday. After three games, Iceland has not won a single point and is at the bottom of qualifying group H.
“Overall I thought the first half was alright and sometimes fine as far as our performance was concerned. It was certainly disappointing to be hit with a goal from a distance which couldn’t have been helped much,” Iceland’s coach Ólafur Jóhannesson commented to Morgunbladid.
“The second half was not as good. There was certainly a possibility to even the score when Portugal led by one goal. But after the third goal hopelessness surfaced in our team and it didn’t seem likely that we would strike back,” he added.
The first goal had already been scored in the third minute by star player Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal, who fans in Iceland have flocked to see. In the 18th minute Heidar Helguson evened the score for Iceland.
However, in the 27th minute, Raúl Meireles of Portugal scored the second goal for his team and Helder Postiga added the third in the 72nd minute.
Iceland’s next game will be against Cyprus on March 26, 2010.
The Icelandic U-21 men’s football team has been more successful; on Monday it qualified for the European Championship finals.
Click here to read more about that game.
