Iceland enter 'new world' against Belarus

Taking part in their first finals, Iceland meet Belarus in their opening UEFA European Under-21 Championship game aiming to make the most of their debut appearance when Group A gets under way in the university city of Aarhus.

Home to 30,000 students, Aarhus has a long history as a finishing school, and Iceland coach Eyjólfur Sverrisson hopes to see his charges take big strides forward in Denmark, starting against Belarus. "It's a huge opportunity for the guys to gain experience," he told UEFA.com on the eve of the tournament. "This is a new world for Iceland.

"It's terrific for Iceland, with our small population, that we are already in the finals," he added. "It's only eight teams so it's a great achievement." Belarus have stood on this stage before, on two occasions, and coach Georgi Kondratyev is expecting a tight contest to make the semi-finals. "All four teams in our section are of an equal strength and the chances are even," he said. "You must approach every game as the last battle, then you have a chance."

Belarus failed the group test both in 2004 and two years ago in Sweden; now their chances of taking the next step in Denmark are hampered by a mounting injury list. After losing striker Vladimir Yurchenko earlier this week to a knee problem, Kondratyev confirmed the team's talisman, Pavel Nekhaychik (knee), plus Mikhail Gordeychuk (ankle ligaments) and Dmitri Rekish, would miss the opener.

"We have 12 or 13 players of a European Championship level and losing each one of them is very painful," the 51-year-old said. "We've lost four regulars from our strike force and it will be extremely difficult to replace them." Sverrisson does not have such difficulties, with key attacking duo Gylfi Sigurdsson and Kolbeinn Sigthórsson recovering from flu in time for Saturday's match.

With his squad intact, Iceland's coach has no plans to revise the approach of a side that finished as competition top scorers en route to Denmark. "I don't think we will change a lot," Sverrisson, 42, said. "We will play our system and stick to how we played in qualifying. We will try to keep on going like we ended in the play-offs [with a 4-2 aggregate win against Scotland]."

He is not anticipating an easy ride, beginning with Belarus. "We know a lot about them," he said. "They're a very strong team and were in the last finals. They beat Italy [in the play-offs after losing the first leg 2-0] and are a very solid side – we absolutely have to be ready for them."

Belarus have done their homework too. "I've watched them quite closely with my assistants," Kondratyev said. "Today we gave the players our analysis. I think they now have a good idea about them." Excited to get going, Sverrisson sees a great chance for his players to gain a higher education. "It's a test for everybody," he added, "and we're all gaining experience."