Liechtenstein 0 Iceland 7
Iceland delivered a dominant performance and cruised their way to victory with a comfortable 7-0 thrashing of minnows Liechtenstein, giving the Scandinavian side the bounce-back effort they needed after their loss to Bosnia earlier this week.
Iceland only needed three minutes to show why they entered this game as heavy favourites and opened the scoring through David Kristjan Olafsson, who left Benjamin Buchel helpless with a shot that deflected off a defender.
The visitors wouldn’t step their foot off the gas and took advantage of Liechtenstein’s passive defending to continue generating chances, but neither Johann Berg Gudmundsson, who missed the target from outside the box, or Jón Dagur Þorsteinsson, who failed to tap the ball home from close range, managed to double the team’s lead.
Liechtenstein showed signs of life after being completely outmatched through the opening 15 minutes, but their approaches were not enough to threaten Runar Alex Runarsson.
The Scandinavian outfit fought hard to add another goal, and while they struggled with accuracy at times, they ultimately doubled their lead a few minutes before the break via Hakon Arnar Haraldsson.
The 19-year-old starlet took advantage of a perfect cross from Aron Gunnarson to slot the ball out of the keeper’s reach, giving Iceland a 2-0 lead at the break.
Iceland repeated the same formula of the first half and only needed a few minutes to score another goal.
A corner from the right side found Gunnarson, and the defender nodded the ball home with a perfect header at the near post to make it 3-0, scoring his first international goal in more than eight years.
The one-sided show continued as the second half progressed, and by the 60th minute, Liechtenstein should’ve felt they were earning a moral victory after being down by just three goals.
Gunnarson made it 4-0 with another header from the near post in the 68th minute, and the defender completed his hat-trick with a penalty kick shortly after that.
Not happy with that, Iceland kept pushing the lines forward and found a sixth and seventh goals in the final minutes via Andri Gudjohnsen, the son of former Chelsea and Barcelona striker Eidur Gudjohnsen, and Mikael Egill Ellertsson, respectively.
The strength of the opposition needs to be taken into account, but Iceland looked as dominant as they were in their glory days from last decade, and this win should represent a massive confidence booster for the Scandinavian side following their 3-0 loss against Bosnia in their qualifying opener.
Liechtenstein couldn’t have wished for a worst start to their EURO campaign, conceding 11 goals in their opening two matches and showing just how far behind they remain from other European squads.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Aron Gunnarson (Iceland)
Check out the stats with Flashscore.
Slovenia 2 San Marino 0
Slovenia moved to the top of UEFA European Qualification Group H for the time being as Matjaz Kek’s men defeated minnows San Marino 2-0 in Ljubljana. The hosts stretched their recent unbeaten run to eight matches as they look to qualify for their first Euros since 2000.
With Kazakhstan’s early win over Denmark, Slovenia were hoping to extend their lead at the top of the group against the 211th FIFA-ranked side, San Marino. There was a slow start to the game as the hosts struggled to break down La Serenissima despite forcing a number of corners.
Miha Zajc’s shot was tipped over the bar by San Marino goalkeeper Elia Benedettini, which was just one of a few saves made by the Cailungo stopper.
The 27-year-old followed up by brilliantly tipping Jaka Bijol’s header onto the crossbar, while Zan Karnicnik followed up by putting a free header over the bar to frustrate Slovenian coach, Matjaz Kek.
Despite the hosts' dominance, the first half was littered with misplaced passes and fouls which broke up play and put a stop to any fluidity in the game.
However, despite conceding eight corners and only 29% ball possession, San Marino were delighted that Slovenia had failed to break through their stubborn defence, marking only the 13th occasion in their history in which they have reached the half at 0-0.
Zajc went close at the start of the second half with a curling effort that went wide as Slovenia restarted on the front foot. Benedettini was called into action again saving well from Andrés Vombergar’s drive.
Eventually, Slovenia took the lead in the most fortunate of circumstances as Benjamin Sesko managed to chest in a deflected shot by Zajc.
The hosts doubled their lead soon after when San Marino defender Roberto Di Maio deflected a header past Benedettini to end any thoughts of the visitors providing a shock.
In the end, Slovenia fans may be disappointed that they didn’t add to their goals tally, however, they will be pleased to collect the three points with no alarms, starting their qualification campaign for the Euros with two consecutive wins for the first time.
