Iceland 1-1 France: Iceland out despite France draw

Iceland saw their Euro 2022 tournament come to an end, despite snatching a dramatic draw against already-qualified France as Belgium won in the other group game to claim second place in Group D.

But Belgium’s 1-0 win against Italy meant it counted for nothing as Iceland finished a point behind them in third place.

A much-changed France side, who had won their previous two group games to wrap up top spot, made the perfect start in this game as they took the lead after just 46 seconds when Melvine Malard struck, stroking home from Clara Mateo’s pass.

That scoreline was still enough to see Iceland go through, provided the other game ended goalless, but that hope was extinguished when Tine de Caigny gave Belgium victory against Italy.

Despite playing in temperatures reaching 36C in Rotherham, Iceland showed a good response to going behind as Sveindis Jonsdottir clipped the crossbar with a header from a corner.

But France showed their quality and Sandy Baltimore was twice denied adding to their lead. Malard and Grace Geyoro also had strikes ruled out by VAR in the second half.

Iceland, though, showed great resilience to keep fighting until the end – and got the reward with the late penalty, expertly finished by West Ham midfielder Brynjarsdottir.

After the full-time whistle, Iceland’s fans stayed behind to applaud their players’ efforts as, despite failing to reach the knockout stage, they exit without having lost a game in England.

“You are allowed to concede goals in football,” said France boss Corinne Diacre.

“It wasn’t that important in this game given the situation. I think we should have put it to bed earlier than before they scored the penalty.

“We need to be more clinical. If we can score from all of our chances that would be much better. What matters is creating chances overall. We create lots of chances but now we need to be clinical.”

France unbeaten but hope for Netherlands?

With qualification secured, France had the luxury of being able to make changes for this encounter, which was certainly welcome given the sweltering conditions.

Looking on was the Netherlands boss Mark Parsons. His side beat Switzerland on Sunday to set up a last-eight tie with the French on Saturday, and this performance will certainly give him plenty to think about.

France showed their depth as Malard struck less than one minute into her first start at Euro 2022.

But once again they failed to score in the second half of a game at this tournament – and that will give Parsons hope that if the Dutch can subdue their opponents early on, then they stand a good chance of reaching the semi-finals.

“He has seen what I wanted to show him this evening in terms of our starting XI,” added Diacre.

“They have 24 hours more to recover, we had 24 hours more in the group stage and we had our scouts in the stands at their game on Sunday as well.”