THE captain of Iceland, Hermann Hreidarsson, last night vowed to pile on the misery for under-fire Scotland.
The Portsmouth defender was a key man as Iceland stunned Norway by grabbing a 2-2 draw in Oslo on Saturday. Olafur Johannsson's minnows were twice behind to Steffen Iversen strikes, but they battled back each time thanks to Heidar Helguson and Eidur
Gudjohnsen.
Now Hreidarsson has his eyes on another scalp – George Burley's Scotland. Iceland host the Scots on Wednesday night believing they can repeat Macedonia's achievements and grab a Group Nine victory.
"This is a fantastic result for us against a strong Norwegian team," said the big defender. "We twice came back from being a goal down and it showed great willpower among the players.
"But we have only played one match so far. We are going to enjoy this moment and then start concentrating on the next match. If we lose against Scotland then this point we got in Norway will be wasted."
Iceland even hit the woodwork in the last minute when Gudmunder Steinarsson's lob over the goalkeeper hit the post, and Hreidarsson is sure they have the players to cause even more upsets in the group.
He added: "We have shown that we can compete at this level. We have a lot of great players and we can cause more shocks. Can we battle for second place? Well, Norway are still the favourites. But we were only millimetres from taking all three points at the end."
Norway manager Age Hareide was furious with the result and is ready to drop some of his players before their next game, against Scotland at Hampden on 11 October.
Blunders by Norway goalkeeper Rune Jarstein and defender Tore Reginiussen handed the visitors a point, and Hareide said: "At international level, you cannot make such mistakes. I will have to find players who do not make mistakes. It is a huge task for me. It is a hard lesson for us to learn. I can only hope our young players learn from their errors and do not do it again next time.
"Iceland played well and have some great players who can make a difference, like Gudjohnsen. Of course, I'm not satisfied with the result, but I am satisfied with how we played for at least two-thirds of the game."
The Netherlands are favourites to top Group Nine but they suffered a setback at the weekend by losing 2-1 to Australia in Eindhoven.
The Dutch, who take on Macedonia in their opening qualifier on Wednesday, took the lead through Klaas Jan Huntelaar, but they had goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg dismissed for a last-man foul and goals from Josh Kennedy and Harry Kewell sealed victory for the Socceroos. "I am really disappointed with this defeat," said new Dutch manager Bert van Marwijk. "I felt we lacked sharpness."
The full article contains 484 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
