Amsterdam: Iceland moved a step closer to clinching a berth at Euro 2016 after a controversial penalty from Gylfi Sigurdsson secured a shock 1-0 victory over 10-man Netherlands last night.
The referee awarded the spot kick in the 51st minute even though Gregory van der Wiel seemed to win the ball in a challenge with Birkir Bjarnason.
Sigurdsson squeezed the penalty under goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen to take Iceland to the brink of their first major championship finals.
It completed a fairytale double over the Dutch in Group A as Iceland took their points total to 18, two ahead of second-placed Czech Republic. The Dutch are third on 10 points.
Iceland can now book a place at Euro 2016 by scoring a home win over Kazakhstan on Sunday.
The home defeat provided a horror start for new coach Danny Blind. His predecessor Guus Hiddink quit because of the team’s unconvincing performances earlier in the campaign, including the 2-0 defeat in Iceland in October.
Robin van Persie, who led the attack at the World Cup in Brazil just over a year ago, was left on the bench by Blind.
New captain Arjen Robben and midfielder Wesley Sneijder put together some lively combinations early on but the injury-prone winger went off after 27 minutes with a groin problem.
There were more Dutch woes six minutes later when Bruno Martins Indi lashed out at Iceland striker Kolbeinn Sigthorsson as both tumbled to the ground and the Dutch defender was sent off.
Blind’s men created few chances until late on when goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson made good stops from Georginio Wijnaldum and Sneijder.
The visitors went close to a second goal when Johann Gudmundsson struck the upright with a curling drive after being teed up by Bjarnason.
Iceland took 3,000 fans to Amsterdam, around one per cent of the small Nordic island nation’s population.
At Nicosia, Gareth Bale put Wales within touching distance of Euro 2016 and a first major tournament appearance for 58 years as the Real Madrid’s star’s late goal clinched a 1-0 win over Cyprus.
Bale’s bullet header settled a nervous encounter with just eight minutes remaining in Nicosia to keep Wales top of the Group B and a victory against Israel on Sunday will guarantee their place in next year’s finals in France.
Wales last qualified for a major tournament at the 1958 World Cup, with legends like Ryan Giggs, Ian Rush and Mark Hughes all denied the chance to showcase their talents on the biggest stage due to their country’s struggles.
But that long and painful spell in the international wilderness could well be consigned to the history books in Cardiff this weekend thanks to the latest heroics from former Tottenham forward Bale, whose sixth goal of the qualifying campaign extended Wales’ unbeaten run to seven matches.
The champagne is on ice for Chris Coleman’s team, who sit three points ahead of second-placed Belgium and five clear of third-placed Israel with three games remaining.
While this was a hardly a vintage display against a Cyprus team ranked a lowly 82 in the world, the joyous celebrations among Bale and his team-mates at full-time underlined that the result was all that mattered.
Italy needed 69 minutes to break down a stubborn, tenacious Malta before Graziano Pello struck to give them a 1-0 win.
Italy, without a win in their previous four matches, struggled to find a way through a massed Maltese defence in front of a sparse crowd at the Artemio Franchi stadium.
The win took them top of Group H with 15 points from seven games, one more than Croatia who drew 0-0 in Azerbaijan earlier yesterday.
Pelle, who scored the only goal when Italy won by the same score in Malta earlier in the group, was in the thick of the action for Italy as he had a shot deflected over the crossbar and headed over from a corner early on.