Iceland clinch maiden Cup berth

WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS Iceland becomes smallest country to reach the finals after defeating Kosovo 20 on Monday PARIS:

Iceland qualified for the World Cup for the first time after beating Kosovo 2-0, while Serbia clinched a spot at next year’s finals with a 1-0 win over Georgia.

Everton midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson and Johann Gudmundsson scored in Reykjavik yesterday as Iceland, with a population of just 330,000, became the smallest country to advance to the World Cup finals.

It is the tiny northern European island nation’s second successive appearance at a major tournament after their shock win over England in a surprise run to the Euro 2016 quarterfinals. “I thought after Euro 2016 that the hardest thing would be to motivate ourselves again,” said Iceland coach Heimir Hallgrimsson.

“The hardest thing was to get going again after our massive party in France.

“And what’s more in a group contested between Croatia, Turkey, Ukraine and Finland.

“The success is not an end in itself but a long journey towards a final destination.”

Iceland needed all three points to secure top spot in European qualifying Group I as Croatia, who sacked coach Ante Cacic last week, downed Ukraine 2-0 in Kiev in the fight to claim second place. Andrej Kramatic struck twice in the second half to send Croatia into next month’s playoffs as Zlatko Dalic took charge of his first match following the 1-1 draw with Finland that prompted the dismissal of Cacic.

Aleksandar Prijovic scored after coming on as a second- half substitute to cement Serbia’s place in Russia, ending an eightyear major finals absence.

Prijovic struck the winner on 74 minutes in Belgrade as Serbia finished top of Group D, with the Republic of Ireland heading to the play-offs after a 1-0 victory over Wales in Cardiff.