Iceland belief not broken by Belarus setback

The overriding feeling displayed by Iceland's players in the immediate aftermath of their opening loss to Belarus was not the one of resignation you might expect of a side playing at this level for the first time. Indeed, they were united in the belief that the result in Aarhus could have been very different, and revealed a collective determination to make amends next time out.

With the Group A opener goalless for the first 77 minutes, it looked as if Iceland would gain at least a point from their debut UEFA European Under-21 Championship game. At that stage, it was Eyjólfur Sverrisson's men who were on top, but then Aron Gunnarsson was sent off for a professional foul and Andrei Voronkov converted the subsequent spot kick. Maksim Skavysh struck late on to seal a 2-0 win for Belarus and leave Iceland empty-handed.

The conviction that the final score might well have been reversed was well founded given that Iceland passed up a clutch of clear opportunities in quick succession, just before Belarus's breakthrough. Striker Arnór Smárason said: "We had a couple of chances in the second half, should have scored, but it didn't go our way."

Those openings fell mainly to Kolbeinn Sigthórsson. The AZ Alkmaar forward was denied twice by goalkeeper Aleksandr Gutor at close quarters, just glancing wide from a corner in between. He said: "If they'd gone in, the game would have been very different. We dominated the majority of the match."

For Johann Gudmundsson, who was forced off during the first half with injury, it was a case of the one that got away. "We should have won this game," the 20-year-old winger said. "We were much better than Belarus, that's for sure. We controlled the game throughout, and should have scored before they did. They got the breakthrough – a penalty and a red card – and it was difficult after that."

Gudmundsson had sympathy for Sigthórsson, his AZ club-mate. "He's probably angry. That's football. Sometimes you score, sometimes you don't. This time it didn't go for us, it went for Belarus. But that's football." Smárason added: "We kept the ball well, and they fell back – they were struggling – but we should have won the game.

"We were patient and tried to find the right time to score," continued Smárason, who plays his club football in Denmark with Esbjerg fB. He rejected the idea that his side had succumbed to stage fright. "I didn't feel like we were stressed or anything. A lot of our players have good experience abroad."

Smárason and his team-mates are already looking forward. "We've shown that we can beat good teams. We're confident. We believe that we can win the other two games." Gudmundsson, who said he was not sure if his arm injury would allow him to take part in Iceland's next match against Switzerland, agreed that must be the aim: "We have to win the next two games, that's for sure. We're under a little bit of pressure if we want to go through."

Meanwhile, Sigthórsson is viewing the Belarus reverse as merely a blip. "We have a good team so we have to just believe in ourselves and show good character now and bounce back. I think we can beat any side because we're playing well."