Iceland qualified for the European Championship for the first time this year. So when Group F play kicked off on Tuesday during Euro 2016, it was a pretty big deal for Iceland, especially since they were going up against Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal.
Portugal went up in the first half after Luis Nani scored in the 31st minute. It could have hurt the morale of Iceland, but they came back early in the second half with a goal by Birkir Bjarnason in the 50th minute.
Needless to say, Iceland was pumped for their first goal, and having tied their match against Portugal:
Wat staat Vierinha daar te slapen, maar wat maakt Birkir Bjarnason dat knap af! #ISLpic.twitter.com/1b7l8cbJwG
— Sportnieuws.nl (@Sportnieuwsnl) June 14, 2016
The match would end in a draw, which isn’t a terrible result for your first Euro match.
But Ronaldo was not happy with their celebration, and he told the media that they had a small mentality, and that they wouldn’t go far in the tournament:
https://twitter.com/eaamalyon/status/742837221158465540?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Ronaldo also accused Iceland of not trying to do anything in the match, according to Mirror:
“It was a little bit frustrating, we tried hard to win the game, Iceland didn’t try anything. They scored a goal, they created two chances in the ninety minutes and otherwise they got every player behind the ball, they put the bus in the net so it’s difficult when one team don’t try but Portugal try and play football and try to win the game.
Ronaldo certainly sounds a little sour after not winning a match against a team that had never even made the European Championship before. But it’s hard to blame the players from Iceland, who are doing something that has never been done for their country.
[Mirror]
