World Footy News

In the third round of the EC2010 held on Thursday, August 5th, Iceland took on Finland in the first match of the day at Farum, Denmark in steamy conditions in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 100 spectators.

After a slow start from both teams, the game lifted in tempo as the running players from both teams started to find time and space out on the flanks, resulting in some exciting and skillful passages of play.

In the second quarter, Iceland started brightly with some inside 50 mark and goals from Palli Finnsson and Bjarni Sigurjonsson, however Mika Kupila scored two quick goals to keep the Finns within touch at the main break.

After half time, Finland continued to pile on the tackle pressure on the key Icelandic playmakers and started to dominate possession, thanks to the hard ball getters Jani Saarinen, Fernando Leon and Jukka Reiman.

In the final quarter, Iceland showed its class with a brace of goals to Pavel Velikov and veteran Palli Finnson to seemingly put the game beyond Finland. In response, the Finns replied with late goals to Juho Leino and Jusso Timosaari to keep the game within reach and set up for an exciting conclusion.

However, it was not to be for Finland as Iceland hung on to record its first ever victory in full-format footy, setting them up for a juicy 5th place classification playoff against Croatia in Malmö, Sweden on Saturday.

This report courtesy of the EC2010 organising committee.

Final score:

Iceland 8.9 (57) def Finland 6.8 (44)

Goal scorers:
Finland: Leino 2, Kupila 2, Timosaari 1, Leon 1
Iceland: Palli Finnsson 3, Vajdic 1, Sigurjonsson 1, Velikov 1, Ragnarsson 1

Best players:
Finland: Primmer, Leon, Leino, Toivonen
Iceland: Palli Finnsson, Sigurjonsson, Valdimarsson, Vajdic