Only one result will do for Iceland today... victory. After successive defeats to Bulgaria (1-3) and Hungary (2-3), coach Asgeir Sigurvinsson is calling on his players to put their World Cup qualifying campaign back on track with a win over Malta.
"We will not play for a draw, we're here to win," Sigurvinsson told The Times yesterday.
"Iceland won the last two matches against Malta which gives us good reason for optimism. Obviously, this is a clash between two small nations and I'm sure Malta fancy their chances of gaining a good result."
Winless in their first two games, Sigurvinsson admitted his frustration at Iceland's poor start in the group.
"No points from two games is very disappointing," he said.
"Our performance in the defeat to Bulgaria was bad... I thought we played better against Hungary but we conceded soft goals."
The opening 7-0 mauling at the hands of Sweden seemed to justify Malta's tag as the weakest team in Group Eight but Sigurvinsson insisted that Malta are not to be taken lightly.
"I have seen a video of the match between Malta and Sweden," he said.
"Mifsud is perhaps the most dangerous player. We know him well because he scored against us when we beat Malta 4-1 three years ago.
"Obviously, we have more quality in our team than Malta and that's mainly due to the fact that many of our players compete in strong leagues. However, we know that we have to work hard to gain a good result here," Sigurvinsson said.
The Iceland coach is of the opinion that Malta's main weakness is their inability to deal with fast breaks when they give away possession.
"Malta did create some good scoring chances against Sweden. They tried to go forward as much as they could but that was the hardest bit of the job, especially against a team like Sweden," the Iceland coach reflected.
"This is not about playing four or five at the back, the problem is how to recover ground and slot back into position when your team is facing a counter-attack. Possession use is the biggest headache for small teams.This has also been a big problem for Iceland teams for many years."
Iceland depend heavily on Eidur Gudjohnsen's prowess to score goals but Sigurvinsson is not unduly concerned about his team's reliance on the Chelsea superstar.
"Eidur Gudjohnsen is very important for our team," he said.
"He is our leading striker and was our top scorer in the qualifying round for Euro 2004. Gudjohnsen is a great player and turning out for one of the best teams in Europe.
"It's only natural that we expect great things from him," Sigurvinsson commented.
Iceland's success in exporting their best football talents to some of the top leagues on the continent despite their small population puts Malta's failures into perspective.
Sigurvinsson believes that Iceland players make the grade abroad because of their strong attitude and fitness.
"It's difficult to say why Maltese players struggle to earn contracts abroad," Sigurvinsson said.
"I'm unaware of your culture and mentality but I believe that our players have a bold will and are physically stronger than the Maltese."