Iceland vs France 12/10/19

12 October 2019

Iceland and France go head-to-head at the Laugardalsvöllur in Reykjavík as part of their 2020 UEFA European Championship qualifying (ECQ) campaign.

Sitting three points adrift of their forthcoming rivals, the home side will need a take-no-prisoners attitude to break into the Group H top-two. Although the ‘Strákarnir okkar’ suffered two defeats in six qualifiers so far (W4, L2), they’ve been ruthless on home soil, winning all three of their ECQ home fixtures. Notably, two of those triumphs have been accompanied by a blank sheet, while two saw them net 2+ match goals too. But, they now face a daunting task of beating France at home for the first time in their history (D3, L2), even though this will be the first time these two nations meet in Iceland in the new millennium.

A disappointing 2-0 away defeat to Turkey aside, the visitors have been impressive in their qualifying campaign so far, registering five wins in six qualifiers (W5, L1). Outstandingly, all of France’s ECQ victories have seen them beat their rivals by a margin of multiple goals; with Les Bleus scoring a minimum of three goals in each while conceding two in total. However, the reigning World Cup champions have endured mixed fortunes when away from home since returning from Russia (W2, D2, L1), with both of those defeats ending with the identical 2-0 scoreline.