The winger and captain of the Icelandic national team, Gakon-Arnar Haraldsson, commented on his team’s defeat in the 2026 Emergency Selection match against Ukraine (3:5).

" I'm extremely disappointed and can't believe how we lost 3:5. We’ll watch the match again to understand what went wrong, otherwise there were a lot of individual reprieves, which are unique to us. The superniks were ideally placed at the gate. Everything flew into the frame. I've never encountered something like this before.

The half was about to end, the score was 1:2, and I thought we would have played better. They punished us harshly, as they did throughout the match. It was a miracle shot from inside the penalty area, and I didn’t want to go into the break with a score of 1:3.

We miraculously started another half and scored two goals. Perhaps we relaxed a little with joy, forgot about simple speeches, just wanted to break through and score the fourth goal to win. Maybe we should just stay calm and follow our game.

I also take responsibility for myself. Many times I was able to control the ball better.

I have been trying to work on long transmissions, but it happens.

It could have been much better, but at the same time it was only one point of difference, and we would still lose money on the way out. Then we have a match with France at home, I guarantee there will be a new stadium. I suspect that Azerbaijan will tease Ukraine again, and we will take points from France,” Haraldsson said Visir.

On Football. ua available for viewing video review of the match Iceland - Ukraine.