Mistrovství světa - kvalifikace FIFA - Mistrovství světa - kvalifikace 2026

Land of Fire frozen by Ice men Rory Baird, 05.09.2025 22:37 Iceland got their World Cup Qualifying (WCQ) campaign off to a flying start as they used a second half blitz to secure a comfortable 5-0 victory over Azerbaijan in Reykjavik, spectacularly ending a run of five matches that had seen the Nordic nation win just one game (L4). Iceland came into this WCQ campaign looking to qualify for just their second ever World Cup following their maiden appearance in Russia in 2018. Arnar Gunnlaugsson’s side started the game in complete control, dictating possession and the tempo of the game. However, they struggled to find their footing in front of goal, creating just one half chance in the opening half hour, when Ísak Bergmann Jóhannesson dragged a poor effort wide of the near post from the edge of the penalty area. The away side were on the back foot for most of the first half, but on the rare occasion that they did manage to get forward, they caused a lot of problems for the Icelandic defence from set pieces, managing to get a few headed efforts off, but neither of them managed to find the target. Azerbaijan’s resistance almost made it to HT but Iceland took the lead in stoppage time Victor Pálsson, who powered home a header from Albert Guðmundsson’s corner. The hosts picked up where they left off too, scoring just two minutes after the restart, through Jóhannesson after the midfielder reacted fastest after Jón Thorsteinsson’s shot was saved to head home the rebound. Nine minutes later Iceland put the game to bed, with Jóhannesson scoring his second of the game, slotting into the centre of the goal from Thorsteinsson’s cutback. The Nordic side really hit their stride in the second half, adding a fourth after 67 minutes when Guðmundsson lashed a strike across the goalkeeper and just inside the far-right post. The onslaught continued though, with the home side adding a fifth six minutes later, when Kristian Hlynsson’s free-kick managed to evade everyone in the box before finding its way into the bottom-right corner.