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Iceland reflect on 'great experience'

Iceland may be bidding farewell to UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™, but the overwhelming sentiment from Siggi Eyjólfsson's camp is that we will be seeing plenty more of them in the future.

Iceland fans cheer their team off the park against Germany.
Iceland fans cheer their team off the park against Germany. ©Getty Images

Iceland may be bidding farewell to UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™, but the overwhelming sentiment from Siggi Eyjólfsson's camp is that they have entered the elite level of women's football to stay.

Familiar story
The theme of their final match in Group B, a 1-0 defeat by Germany, was a familiar one for Iceland, taking part in their first major tournament. They defended bravely and competed for every ball in midfield, while creating enough openings to have taken more from the game, but failed to show the vital cutting edge in attack to really make their mark on the match. For the third time, Iceland left everything on the field and walked away empty-handed.

Valuable experience
As Eyjólfsson reminds us, however, his side were "never out" of any of their three matches – defeats by France (3-1), Norway (1-0) and now holders Germany. And both he and his players believe their experiences in Finland will stand them in excellent stead in the future, as defender Gudrún Gunnarsdóttir agreed: "Sure, we're disappointed, but we just have to continue and build on what we've done here at EURO. I think one thing that's for sure is that we'll be better prepared next time thanks to this experience, it's been great for us."

Eyes on 2011
"We can look forward to the [FIFA Women's] World Cup in 2011 with a lot of hope, I think, that's our target" the Djurgårdens IF player added, with one 5-0 qualifying win against Serbia in the bag and a 17 September visit of Estonia next on the agenda. "That's obviously a long way away still and we will have to take each game as it comes, but I really feel the players can take confidence from the fact we have competed well against sides like Norway, France and Germany. There are some things we have to work on and we would particularly like to improve our offensive game. But, there are also a lot of positives to be had from it, both in how we performed and the great reaction we've had from the people at home."

Welcome addition
Whether it be the image of the players' wholehearted rendition of Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror as they left the team hotel in the build-up to their final match, or the colour and passion brought to the tournament by their loyal band of supporters, Iceland will certainly be missed as they wave goodbye to the UEFA European Women's Championship finals here in Finland.

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