Barrling buoyed by late strikes

Sweden coach Calle Barrling could not hide his relief after seeing his side end their goal drought with two timely strikes against Iceland. The Swedes had managed just one goal in their last four competitive matches, and Barrling admitted he "feared we wouldn't score again" before watching Sofia Jakobsson and Jenny Hjohlman win the tense Group B game with late strikes in Minsk. The result was cruel on Iceland, who enjoyed the better of the first hour before fading, but their coach Ólafur Thór Gudbjörnsson was refusing to feel disheartened, saying he is "looking forward" to the must-win game against England on Sunday.

Ólafur Thór Gudbjörnsson, Iceland coach 
I feel very disappointed. We started well but the game became more and more difficult as time went by. Like against Norway, the heat made it difficult for us and you could see we were tiring at the end of the match. We lost our concentration a few times and we let in two goals. We were tired and had no energy left but you have to give credit to Sweden – they played very well in the last 25 minutes.

I like the way we played in the first half and the way we were passing the ball. We had a few chances, including a nice free-kick against the post, and our confidence grew. We created even more chances than we did against Norway. We are still in the competition. If we win against England, we have a chance. It's not over. We are disappointed, but tomorrow we have to start all over again and prepare for England. It will be a good game. They are good and we know each other well because we have played them five or six times over the last couple of years. They are building a very strong team and it will be interesting to play against them. I am looking forward to it.

Calle Barrling, Sweden coach 
I feared we wouldn't score again. We've had so many chances. I was more or less satisfied with our attacking game in the first half, although our defending was not great. I had my doubts [about the game's outcome] but I also knew that Sofia Jakobsson never gives up. She is always positive and it helped her when I brought on two wingers in the second half. They did a great job of supporting her. It's not a big surprise that it was one of those wingers [Jenny Hjohlman] who scored the winning goal.

I thought we'd improve steadily in the tournament because we've had to make many changes due to certain problems, especially at the back. I lost one of my central defenders to a knee injury in our first training session, and the defence didn't show enough courage in the opener against England. I think we made England look a bit better than they are in our first game, but we played better against Iceland and had a very good second half. We played with more power. We have some fast players so we like to play long balls over the top, but we can also play short passes with our skilful midfield players. I know that Iceland aren't England, and they did get tired late on, but I'm happy with this win and I think we'll play even better in the third game.