From Iceland — Iceland In The Play-Offs For World Cup

Iceland In The Play-Offs For World Cup

Published October 16, 2013

Iceland is one step closer to becoming the smallest nation to qualify for the men’s World Cup in football after reaching the play-offs by tying with Norway on Tuesday evening.

The match took place in Oslo where around 2000 Icelandic supporters were there to give the Icelandic team the extra push. Norwegian spectators were not quite as loud, as Norway had no chance to qualify for the World Cup even if they won the match.

After a 1-1 draw it was a question of the results in the Switzerland-Slovenia match that would determine whether that one point would be enough for Iceland to claim second place in Group E.

And yes it was, as Switzerland beat Slovenia 1-0.

That means that Iceland snatched the play-off spot in the group and needs to beat either Portugal, Croatia, Ukraine or Greece to make it to the World Cup in Brazil next year.

It goes without saying that there was slight football mania in Iceland on Tuesday and both players and the Icelandic audience in Oslo went wild as the news broke that they had made it to the play-offs.

See photos from Oslo at Mbl.is and a video of the Icelandic team going crazy here.

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