Iceland and Netherlands share spoils

Iceland 1-1 Netherlands
Iceland coach Siggi Eyjólfson said he was left with plenty of "positives" despite his charges failing to take their chances as they were held by fellow UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ finalists the Netherlands in Kopavogur.

Profligacy punished
The home side were on top from the start and forged ahead on 18 minutes when Ólína Vidarsdóttir rose to head in Edda Gardarsdóttir's corner. The visitors gradually recovered, but could have been 2-0 down six minutes after half-time only for Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir to snatch at her gilt-edged effort. Sixty seconds later Iceland were punished for their profligacy as Sylvia Smit latched on to a long ball from Kirsten van de Ven and dispatched it beyond Thóra Helgadóttir.

Loss of impetus
"I saw many positives, but with the teams taking it in turns to control the game I think a draw is fair," said Eyjólfson. "It was a good game, especially in the first half from our point of view as we were on top; I wish we'd made more of our chances. We eased off in the second half and the Netherlands started to get on top when we started making substitutes. It was very good to have this game against strong opponents before our final preparation matches against Denmark and England – then it is the finals in Finland."

Pauw pleased
Annemieke Kiesel-Griffioen equalled Edwin van der Sar's mark of 131 Netherlands caps, just ten behind Marleen Wissink's record, and was congratulated by the Manchester United FC goalkeeper by text message. Dutch coach Vera Pauw said: "The 1-1 draw is a great result. Iceland beat Norway 3-1 in the Algarve Cup." Her side are next in action from 11-15 July when they welcome Switzerland, South Africa and China for a four nations' tournament in Amsterdam.