On Tuesday, September 5, Reykjavik will host the fourth meeting in the history of the confrontations between the national teams of Ukraine and Iceland. This time the teams will meet in the eighth round of the World Cup 2018. Our team has never lost to Scandinavians, and if in Ukraine there was a double draw with a score of 1: 1, Iceland's success was accompanied by Ukrainians.

March 31, 1999, selection of Euro-2000 While Ukraine was setting up a fierce struggle with France for the first place in the group, Iceland was far from ambitious plans. Northerners at that time confined themselves to being uncompromising in the fight against the favorites, so no one was surprised by the powerful defensive redoubts at the Olympic Stadium, in which the hosts were unsuccessfully fighting before the break.

Only in the second half, an unexpected spurt of Vashchuk from the depth of the field, going one on one with the goalkeeper and irresistible kick defender Dynamo restored, it seemed, the status quo. Alas, instead of developing success and squeezing the opponent, the Ukrainian team slowed down and soon paid for it. Standard, a series of mistakes defense and grimace Fortune led to a goal at the gate Shovkovsky.

I had to start all over again, but once again I broke through the defense and the goalkeeper of the Icelanders failed.

Ukraine - Iceland 1: 1 Goals: Vashchuk, 59 - L. Sigurdsson, 66.

Ukraine: Shovkovsky - Luzhny, Vashchuk, Golovko, Popov (Kalitvintsev, 75) - Mikitin, Gusin, Kosovsky - Rebrov, Shevchenko, Skachenko (Maksimov, 46).

September 8, 1999, the selection of Euro-2000 The situation before the return match resembled the one that was before the first: Ukraine again did not lose to France and really claimed to enter the final tournament Euro-2000 in Belgium and Holland, the Icelanders once again dreamed, not to hit the dirt face, this time - in front of their own fans.

Again in the count led our guys after the exact strike Rebrov. And despite the counter pressure of the hosts, the victory still managed to be defended. The situation on the field developed on the principle of a pendulum - the team exchanged dangerous moments, and they were close to equalizing the score, then to doubling the advantage.

To the delight of the fans of the national team of Ukraine and to the annoyance of local football fans, the football gods considered that there would be too many balls for this fight, and they decided to put an end to the already crammed.

Iceland - Ukraine 0: 1 Goal: Rebrov, 43.

Ukraine: Shovkovsky - Luzhny (Mikitin, 79), Vaschuk, Popov, Golovko, Dmitrulin - Maksimov, Konovalov (Tsikhmeystruk, 66), Kosovsky - Rebrov, Shevchenko.

September 5, 2016, selection of the 2018 World Cup After the disastrous performance at Euro-2016 only the most desperate optimists did not doubt the success of the Ukrainian national team in a duel against the main opening of the European Championships in France - the team of Iceland. The overwhelming majority of fans, deprived of the opportunity to personally support the coach-debutant Andrei Shevchenko and his wards, were confident that Ukraine will have huge problems.

And they were right, only the problems were only in the opening of the meeting, when the guests scored, and then almost immediately could double the score in their favor. However, it turned out that Shevchenko can not only use tactics inconvenient for an opponent, but also change it depending on the circumstances of the game.

And Yarmolenko's return goal was already taken for granted, as well as the ensuing dangerous moments at the gates of Halldoorsson and the designated penalty for fouls against Butko. And when the Linnet approached the "point", it was thought that all this is well deserved, and the second goal will be absolutely fair. Alas, a powerful blow Kono fell in the bar.

Of course, to miss the victory a dozen minutes before the final whistle was incredibly insulting.

But if you consider the chance to burn down and the first quarter of an hour, as well as a picture that is quite meaningful both team and individual actions, the result could be considered satisfactory. Ahead was the whole qualifying tournament, in which the prospect loomed quite decent.

Ukraine - Iceland 1: 1 Goals: Yarmolenko, 41 - Finbogason, 5.

At the 83rd minute Konoplyanka not realized a penalty.

Ukraine: Pyatov - Butko, Kucher, Rakitsky, Sobol - Stepanenko, Sidorchuk (Zozulya, 63), Konoplyanka, Kovalenko, Zinchenko (Shakhov, 90) - Yarmolenko.