The Icelandic team lost the home qualifying match for the 2026 World Cup to the national team of Ukraine (3:5). The home team's head coach Arnar Gunnleigsson summed up the match, Visir reports..

" We played against Ukraine, a serious team. I thought we looked really good for most of the match.. I'm very proud of the guys.

The game can always be simplified: if we lose, we are terrible, if we win, we are great. But it's not that simple. I hope that as many people as possible realize this, and I think that everyone who understands football will see this. We were absolutely great today. But we missed a goal, this game is merciless.

It seems to me that we are now at the level of 2013-2014. The team is forming and gaining strength, the young guys are full of energy, but sometimes mistakes happen that are difficult to explain. It seemed that every shot they made on goal ended in a goal.. But in general, I don’t remember Iceland playing at home against such a strong team and demonstrating such dynamic and high-quality football.

I had a lot of fun, it was a great match, but we have to learn a lesson. Character is the most important word. To equalize the score, losing 1:3, was really strong.

With experience at this level and participation in many important matches, you will no longer be unable to make decisions like we did during the first three goals conceded.. I think it’s easier to correct these unfortunate mistakes than to change the team’s game as a whole,” the coach said.

Iceland dropped to 3rd place in the qualifying group after the defeat by the Blue-Yellows. The Ukrainian team scored 4 points after three rounds. Meanwhile, Gunnleigsson's team has 3 points left.

Kalyuzhny named the main reason for the victory over Iceland News on Telegram and WhatsApp. Subscribe to our channels https://t. me/korrespondentnet and WhatsApp Author: 1.