FUTURE IS BRIGHT

From back page

- BY MARK McCADDEN

refreshing,” Aldridge said of Hallgrímsson’s positive soundings

“It's easy for a manager to say, ‘Look, we are in a bad way here, we're in a bad moment here, don't expect too much from me’.

“So if he can do 80 per cent for us of what he did with Iceland, with the players we've got, I don't think we'll be too far away from qualifying.”

Hallgrímsson reckons he has a stronger hand now than when he was in charge of Iceland.

“I think we have a strong team, we are all in sync, we have all been tactically improving in every camp," he said.

“This is a young squad that, in the past, didn’t have many wins, so confidence was low.