Kondratyev relieved, Sverrisson aggrieved

Georgi Kondratyev was a relieved man after Belarus's improved second-half performance enabled them to run out 2-0 winners against Iceland in Group A.

Iceland were pressing and Kolbeinn Sigthórsson had three opportunities to put them ahead before Aron Gunnarsson saw red for felling Stanislav Dragun six metres from goal and Andrei Voronkov scored the resulting penalty. Maksim Skavysh doubled the lead with three minutes to go, leaving Iceland coach Eyjólfur Sverrisson to ponder what might have been.

Georgi Kondratyev, Belarus coach
As I thought, it turned out to be a very tough match. The boys were quite nervous in the first half. In defence, we stood up quite well, but in midfield we weren't making much progress so during half-time I asked the boys to try to improve in this area.

I'm very happy that the team managed to improve their play in the second half and that we managed to get this very important victory. Like any coach, I was nervous when they had the run of chances, and Iceland are a team I respect deeply.

Eyjólfur Sverrisson, Iceland coach
We had absolutely the best chances to win the game, and were punished for not taking them. In these finals you cannot afford to miss chances like that, and it's very disappointing for us as we played quite well. We were comfortable on the ball and were in control of it. The team didn't bounce back after the red card and penalty.

We wanted to play our game and make more chances from the wings, but when we did get the ball in Belarus closed down the space very well. It was tough, as we felt in control of the game. Now we have to work on the spirit of the team, get the guys believing in themselves again – they have to realise that the game was quite good.

Then we have to work on when you are one-nil down you have to believe in your chances, have to push more and get more out of the chances. We've seen many times that teams can do that.