Iceland qualify for Euro 2016 by drawing with Kazakhstan

The Iceland football team secured its qualification to the Euro 2016 Championship by holding Kazakhstan to a 0-0 draw in the qualifying tournament at the Laugardalvollur Stadium here.

"Maybe we did not have a good game today (Sunday night) because this was a difficult game. A lot of teams have problems when you are going to take the final steps," Xinhua quoted Iceland head coach Lars Lagerback as saying.

Iceland beat the Netherlands 1-0 in Amsterdam last Thursday so as to add their points to 18. By tying Kazakhstan, Iceland got the precious one more point they secured their qualification to Euro 2016.

"Maybe tonight is not our best performance. If you know one point is enough to be qualified for Euro 2016, it may disturb your mind a little bit. We didn't play so well tonight, but still better than Kazakhstan," Iceland player Vidar Orn Kjartansson said.

It is the first time for Iceland to qualify for an Euro Championship which will kick off in France on June 10, 2016.

"I think we have a really good team. We are getting better and better and the team-work is really good. When we go to France next year, our goal is to win every game we play. I believe our team and we can do good things in France," added Kjartansson.

Last year, Iceland also defeated the Netherlands 2-0 in the first leg in Reykjavik.

With Iceland's fantastic performance in Euro 2016 qualifier games, it reached an all-time high of 23rd in July's FIFA World Ranking. Iceland placed only 131st in April, 2012.