Kolbeinn Sigthorsson scored a glorious winner as Iceland completed a superb comeback to beat the Czech Republic 2-1 in their Euro 2016 qualifier in Reykjavik and go top of Group A.
The home side dominated the game with their physical play but Borek Dockal gave the Czech Republic the lead 10 minutes into the second half, thumping a rising right-foot shot into the top left corner after he was teed up by Tomas Necid.
Jolted into life, Iceland equalised five minutes later when Aron Gunnarsson dived to head home and, when Sigthorsson danced round Petr Cech and scored the winner in the 76th minute, the home crowd went wild.
The result puts Iceland within touching distance of qualifying for their first major tournament, as they now top the group on 15 points after six games, with the Czechs second on 13.
The Czechs started brightly, passing the ball fluidly and finding space between the Icelandic lines, while Necid wasted their best chance of the first half, heading a superb cross narrowly wide after 15 minutes.
That effort forced the home side into action and all of a sudden Iceland’s high-pressure tactics and hard-tackling style started to click.
The closest they came to scoring in the first half, though, was via a brace of Gylfi Sigurdsson free-kicks within the space of a few minutes midway through the half, with Cech saving the first and the second flying just over.
Iceland continued to bully the Czechs and Johann Gudmundsson could have scored a late third after a lung-bursting dash up the right. But, even though Cech parried the ball away for a corner, the celebrations were soon under way as Iceland’s remarkable run continues.
Holland lie third in the group behind the Czechs after dragging their own qualification campaign back on course with an unconvincing 2-0 win over Latvia in Riga. The goals came in four second-half minutes, with PSV Eindhoven’s Georginio Wijnaldum putting his side ahead in the 67th minute and his club team-mate Luciano Narsingh adding a second, running on to Daley Blind’s pass in the 71st minute. Turkey are a further two points behind after beating the group’s bottom team, Kazakhstan, 1-0 in Almaty.
In Group B Wales’s qualification hopes were boosted as third-place Israel lost 3-1 in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Two goals from Edin Visca and an Edin Dzeko penalty revived the hosts’ slender chances of reaching the finals in France, though only after Israel had taken the lead against the run of play, through the 25-year-old winger Tal Ben Haim, who volleyed in a sliced Dzeko clearance in the 41st minute.
The visitors’ advantage lasted only a matter of seconds, Visca running on to Mensur Mujdza’s pass to equalise in the 42nd minute. Dzeko put the hosts in the lead in first-half stoppage time and Visca put the match to bed with a header from close range in the 75th minute.
Cyprus drew level with Israel on nine points, two behind second-placed Belgium and one ahead of Bosnia & Herzegovina, with a comfortable 3-1 win over pointless Andorra. Again they had to come from behind, after Dossa Núnior’s own-goal put the Andorrans ahead in the second minute. It was not a good night for the defender, who also missed a second-half penalty, but a Nestor Mytidis hat-trick ensured that his team did not suffer.
No team changed positions in Group H, as the top three sides – Croatia and Italy, who fought out a 1-1 stalemate in Split, and Norway, held 0-0 by Azerbaijan in Oslo – all drew. Bulgaria are now two points behind the Norwegians after a 1-0 victory in Malta, where Ivelin Popov volleyed in the only goal in the 56th minute, though they, too, missed a penalty, Ilian Micanski dragging his effort wide in first-half stoppage time.
