World Cup 2014: Can Sigurdsson save Iceland again?

Iceland star man Gylfi Sigurdsson

Gylfi Sigurdsson's late winner against Albania put Iceland second in Group E but it will be a tougher test against top side Switzerland, says Ben Lyttleton.

The importance of some individuals to their national teams, especially smaller ones, cannot be overstated, and that proved to be the case for Iceland on Friday, as star man Gylfi Sigurdsson netted a late winner in their 2-1 victory in Albania. Iceland coach Lars Lagerback was upset that Sigurdsson picked up a needless booking in the game for taking off his shirt after scoring; one more yellow card and he will be suspended, just as Aron Gunnarsson is from Iceland's match against Switzerland.

Swiss coach Ottmar Hitzfeld has problems of his own; he was furious after Norway scored a late equalizer on Friday night, Brede Hangeland heading home a corner despite Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio being blocked. Hitzfeld now faces a Uefa sanction after directing two middle-finger salutes towards the referee. "I was pissed off but it was tough for us against 12 men," he explained.

Switzerland are still in control of Group E, top by one point from Iceland, whom they should beat on Tuesday. But with Sigurdsson in the side, and Lagerback's organisational skills too, it might not be easy. The price for Both Teams to Score is 1.9210/11.

The biggest winners on Friday were not England (5-0), Germany (6-1) or Spain (4-0) but Israel, who beat Luxembourg 6-0. What makes their result even more impressive was that Eli Guttman made huge changes to the squad beforehand, dropping Yossi Benayoun, Tal Ben-Haim and Ben Sahar, the first two of whom had been talismen for the side for the last decade. The new generation performed brilliantly: Tomer Hemed, currently in prolific form for Real Mallorca in La Liga, bagged a hat-trick and new captain Dudu Awat said, "This was a true team performance."

But how will Luxembourg react to the loss? They now travel to Israel for Tuesday's rematch, and they can make life difficult for teams: they had already drawn with Northern Ireland and scored in a 2-1 loss to Portugal. I can't see them folding again: Guttman has warned that they will be better prepared this time around, and it may be worth looking at the Under 2.5 Goals market, at 3.39/4.

The image of Greece as Euro 2004 winners has been a tough one to shake: solid at the back and a team that scores the odd goal from set-pieces. Coach Fernando Santos has kept the defensive solidity that marked the reign of his predecessor, 'King' Otto Rehhagel, but by playing three up front, has tried to give his side more options going forward.

That didn't work on Friday night, when Greece had the better of their home qualifier against Bosnia-Herzegovina but were unable to find a way past Asmir Begovic in the visitors' goal. Theo Gekas, Vassilis Torosidis and Dmitri Salpingidis all missed excellent chances - the Salpingidis one was a one-on-one which he looked certain to score - and the 0-0 draw was only the fourth time in Santos's 29 matches in charge in which Greece had failed to score (and the second against Bosnia).

The result left a three-way lead at the top of Group G, with Greece, Bosnia and Slovakia locked on seven points. Slovakia play Greece on Tuesday night in a game which could go some way to determining who remains in contention in one of the tightest groups in qualifying. Slovakia, if anything, are the new Greece: despite having attacking players like Vladimir Weiss and Marek Hamsik, their initial game-plan is usually safety-first, and avoiding defeat will be their first priority.

Goals have been hard been hard to come by - five in their first three qualifiers (better than Greece's four), two of which came in the nerve-wracking 2-1 win over Latvia - partly because, for all the creativity, centre-forward Marek Baros is yet to open his international scoring duck. This promises to be a tight game, and both teams may be happy with the draw at full-time, which is 3.3512/5. The 0-0 Correct Score is 9.28/1.

Recommended Bet

Back Both teams to Score @ 1.9210/11 in Iceland v Switzerland