₦airaland Forum

ChrisKels:
Compare to Balogun, he came out tops because he was able to save his team. He conceded just once but Balo conceded twice. He didn't make team of the week neither did Balo but he did his job unlike Balo in their respective battles.

Na Balo score own goal or na em commit foul!?

I say show how he came top. You dey give me stori how monkey take born one, two die.

ChrisKels:
But that picture up there is 16/17 which is past two seasons not 17/18 which is last season. Now who be the true olodo rabata?

It's either you are too clever by half or your have comprehension problem.

So, you after you read the bolded, you no understand?

Wetin bi 'and' we dey btw?

Chai! You are not smart.

forgiveness:
Na only that one be the fact wey you get?

I have seen that even before you showed it and I also know he was in the 2 Bundusliga last season. e even had 2 MOTM awards three seasons ago in the Bundusliga. Hahahaha!

Na dere you go fear fear.

Oya show me how that division 2 boy take better pass Etebo and Onazi.

Don't forget to show me Niang better pass Ighalo with facts too.

E wan sneak Iwobi and Iheanacho inside the team ahead of Victor Moses and Balde, I come catch am, den em begin dey cry. Bhuuuhahaha!

ChrisKels:
Lol but in this same worldcup, Salif came out tops in the defense ahead of all our defenders. Think bro, think



Yes bro Mainz record is still better thats why Hannover finished ahead of Mainz this past season

Can you show me where Salif Sane came out top in this World cup?

At today, no bi tomorrow ooooooo, did he make World cup team of the week?

ChrisKels:
Salif Sane in the Bundesliga 2 last season? Now I know I was discussing with the wrong person.

Pele oo

Chai! Dis boy na olodo rabater ooooooo.

You mean you just came here and gave oluwole fake analyses?

Now, na who be pele oo dey for after this snapshot proved Salif_San played in the Bundusliga 2 last season ?

ChrisKels:
But in your on words, Kouyate's West Ham is a bigger club than Etebo's relegated Las Palmas, relegated stoke and lowly feirense

Lol

Think, when I said BETTER, I meant to say since Mainz and Hannover 96 are in the same league, Mainz record is still better than Hannover 96 who just came back from relegation last season. Think.

Besides, that relegated Las Palmas played in the La Liga this season. Don't forget.

we saw what Etebo did in the La Liga and don't forget, in this same WC tournament, Etebo made the team of the week. Hahahaha!

ChrisKels:
Etebo ; 14 appearances, 0 goals, 1 assist, 3 yellow cards, 0 red, 1 MOTM

Kouyate ; 32 appearances, 2 goals, 3assists, 5 yellow cards, 0 red card, 2 MOTM


The truth is bitter

So, Etebo played only 14 matches this season?

The ones he played in the Portuguese league na wetin go do those ones. Mtcheeew!

My friend, go and sleep.

ChrisKels:
Salif Sane ; 23 appearances, 4 goals, 1 assist, 6 yellow, 0 red card, 5 MOTM awards.

Leon Balogun ; 14 appearances, 0 goals, 0 assists, 4 yellow cards, 1 red card, 0 MOTM award.

The truth is bitter

Na only that one be the fact wey you get?

I have seen that even before you showed it and I also know he was in the 2 Bundusliga last season. He even had 2 MOTM awards three seasons ago in the Bundusliga. Hahahaha!

Na dere you go fear fear.

Oya show me how that division 2 boy take better pass Etebo and Onazi.

Don't forget to show me Niang better pass Ighalo with facts too.

E wan sneak Iwobi and Iheanacho inside the team ahead of Victor Moses and Balde, I come catch am, den em begin dey cry. Bhuuuhahaha!

ChrisKels:
Chai this boy you are a criminal. So finally u no get any facts to counter my assertion yet u jumped into an argument u know nothing about?

U funny

Don't be silly. You started it and you should do the needful since I have picked holes in your bigot analyses. Oya! Show me your FACTS.

ChrisKels:
There is a big difference between BaloKong and Balogun or Ekong. When u sort it, then u can argue, until then, u make no sense.

Man tribalism has really eaten so deep into you. So for ur wapped mind I was bringing down Balo for Ekong? Any ways I'm not surprised.

Can u statistically prove that any of our center backs did better than Salif last season? Do you know that while Balo is headed for lowly huddersfield, Salif will be in the champs league with Schalke04 next season. Oh u said Balo is better because he plays for a better club? Is that a fact? Lol but Onyekuru isn't better than Moses Simon nah even though Henry plays for a bigger club. Lol

Shun tribalism bro

Anybody who reads through your comment will decipher you are a TRIBALIST. simple and short.

Your mumu didn't know that Balogun shuned the same Schalke04 for the lowly Huddersfield-town-fc because EGO... KUDI... MONEY.

It is on record that Simon Moses WON THE BELGIUM PRO LEAGUE with GENT 3 or 4 seasons ago and has finished within the top 3 afterwards save for this season they finished 4th. BHUUUHAHAHA!

Use your brain and quit being a bigot.

ChrisKels:
The only reason I love you is because u like being factual while arguing, so could you please back up your claim with facts bro? Factually prove Balo is better than Salif.

Did you give fact that Salif is better than Balogun?

Which fact did you give that proved a division 2 Alfred N'Diaye is better than Etebo and Onazi?

Which fact proved that Niang is better than Ighalo?

You said Ahmed Musa has nothing on Mane and keita but he you want to sneak in Iwobi ahead of Victor Moses, did you give fact for that too?

Prove me all the facts before I think you are serious.

komekn:
Agreed Musa wing play gives us competitive edge and advantage.

Blistering pace, add to that after going back to Russia he has got his form back.

Musa is in the team by merit this nonsensical suggestion of tribalism and federal character should not even be mentioned.

Honestly! For the love of the country, one suppose to think out of the box.

In this case, we need a potent wingers on both wings and if one doesn't perform then he should be dropped. Simple.

Oasis007:


LMAO....... I temporarily stayed off from posting on this Thread coz some Monikers I respected are going haywire with their Posts just because we lost a Match.

So playing Musa is simply to comply with Quota System?! Musa does not deserve to be in the Team I guess?! LOL!

I don't wanna get involved in this kinda Discourse, but it's better we reason deeply before making Posts.

Some people cannot reason again because tribalism don chop dem sense finish.

When one peep gave a line up with no defender, I didn't hear noise hear but make me try am.. Ah!

ChrisKels:
There is a big difference between BaloKong and Balogun or Ekong. When u sort it, then u can argue, until then, u make no sense.

Even at that, that your Hannover player is not better than Balogun. Shikena.

Make e dey pain you say we don see fowl yanch.

somehow:
Imagine reading "starting musa is federal character". How low have we all gone that we cant even reason properly again without the effect of tribalism and ethnictism beclouding our judgement?

Like Musa doesn't deserve to be in the squad, the same Musa that thrive well in Russia. Infact why should Musa be on the bench for Iwobi in the first place when talking wing play?

It's not the first time I heard such thing and I think it will not be the last, so far some peeps here thinks nothing good comes from the North or other places except theirs.

It's a brain disease that has affected some peeps here.

ChrisKels:
You can prove me wrong bro.

Salif and koulibaly are better than BaloKong. Idowu has nothing on Sabaly neither does Shehu on Wague. Come to the middle, Etebo, Onazi etc have nothing on both Kouyate and n'diaye of Villarreal. Only Ndidi can stand to be counted here. In the attacking midfield, iwobi can stake a claim but on the wings, the likes of Musa have nothing on Balde, Mane et al, then strikers, Ighalo can only dream of putting half the show Niang put.


But if Cisse had Kelechi and decided to tweak his formation, he might have the trio of Mane, Kelechi and Niang starting for him to give him more lethal front. Niang is a knock down master with this strength and height which could benefit the left leg of Iheanacho. Otherwise, I am sorry KC also can't start for them.

ChrisKels:
We were talking about our respective starting lineups in this first round, not the over all team.

Ebuehi and Nacho didn't start for us na, but yes those two could start for Senegal ahead of Wague and Diouf respectively

You said you are talking about the starting lineups but you are fishing out Onazi, Musa and mentioning Kelechi. How dat one no be confusion?

Let us now critically analyse your point.

You said Salif and Koulibaly are better than Balogun, as if na only Balogun play center back for us.

What about Ekong? Are you saying Ekong is better than Balogun hence make we bench am put Omeruo?

Now, let us see which can make Senegal's starting lineup, starting from the defence.

From the RW, Wague go start ahead of Shehu because he is a natural RB.

On the LB, Sabaly start Brian seats. In the CB, Koulibaly will definitely bench Ekong while I will start Balogun ahead of Salif. Mainz is better than Hannover 96.

In the midfield, even though Onazi no play, you stylishly brought him in to mock him but unfortunately for you, Onazi is not those two players mate.

However, Etebo go bench dat your N'diaye wey dey play for division two while Ndidi go vamooz Kouyate. Fact

In the attack, na who Iwobi wan bend btw Mane and Balde for wing? Abi na Iwobi get something on these two players?

You can see how you are trying to bring some players down while you praise some high to heaven.

My friend, Iwobi to the bench straight while Victor Moses will take the place of Sarr. So, Mane and Victor Moses on the wings.

In the attack, at least Ighalo don score double digits goals in a top league like the EPL. Show me the one Niange don score.

Niang goal record is poor. I will start Ighalo with Niang of Diouf.

For your information, even if Senegal coach tweak his formation, there is no way Kelechi will start ahead of Balde, Victor Moses or Ahmed Musa. Fact.

Now, let us see how things go.


................................. N'diaye......


...... Sabaly..... Balogun.... Koulibaly.... Wague


........Victor ............ Ndidi.................. Etebo..... Mane


.............................Ighalo .............Niang........

As you can see, 5 of our players will start in that match.

Deyvid123:
About 15 players from that team failed the MRI test and how did you know Fortune was not tested when he was the guy who raised the most dust?
I'm not even supporting or antagonizing Uzoho, just looking at it from all possible angles.

Because in 2009, it was not compulsory for all players to go through MRI hence MRI Test was done randomly. But in 2011, it's compulsory every player go through the MRI Test under the supervision of FIFA officials.

Misterdhee1:
Dude isn't anything less than 25. No be today people dey bypass MRI Test abeg.



"Please consider listing as an event vendor on www.planit.ng to get more customers (100% FREE)"

How can you wan take bypass what FIFA monitored with their two koro koro eyes?

Mtcheeew! Na advert wey you advertice na em no make you fit think am well.

LieDetector:
dropping shehu and starting Musa? We are not ready for any world cup. We have to wait for another four years. Anyone that doesn't see this is a federal character something is blind. It's clear now Rohr isn't the one calling the shots. Shame on NFF. Shame shame and more shame. Nonsense!

What is federal character in starting Musa?

Is Musa a bad player?

How many wingers do you have in your team?

If Musa is one of the 3 wingers in the team and one of the winger who did not live up to expectation is dropped for Musa, is it not a normal thing to do?

Victor Moses, Iwobi and Musa are thes three wingers Rohr is used to, and since Iwobi was not effective enough, it will be a wise decision to drop him and start Musa.

It is a very simple straight forward thing. So, wetin be quota system for dis one.

Abi, make we use Iwobi wey we know say em no dey do well for the wing come take play Iceland again?

Mujtahida:
If your story is true I'm glad they benched him. What Rashidi gave us, Fash never even dreamt of it.

Person wey dey for England list of worst ever national players. He is number one

Naija mentality.

What is bad if you have two deadly strikers in a team?

If he is back up to Yekini, na sin?

Emm! You mean after playing 2 matches coming in as a substitute, he is the worst ever England national team player?

Dey believe lies dey go.

Besides, Fashanu was popular in the early 80s. This was before Yekini began to shine.

TheSuperNerd:
Never say never Egbon... Never say never.

Ok na.

ChrisKels:
John if you are truly as patriotic as u pretend to be, then you are in the best position to bring this boys as someone who has been there before and someone who started that silly trend. Help correct your error by going to talk to those guys about the implications of dumping Nigeria for England and the gains of playing for Nigeria. Make them understand that u made a mistake starting this trend, then u enjoin them not to repeat the same mistake you made, no be to dey here dey yarn trash.

Which silly trend?

Who told you he refused to play for Nigeria?

John Fashanu came to play but he was benched and told point blank that Nigerian pattern of play doesn't suit him. Oh ha!

Then he left. EOD

TheSuperNerd:
That Tomori kid is ready. I believe we should move in on him soon. Fikayo Tomori also identifies with us through Ola Aina thanks to their time together at Hull last season.
Also, Philip Billing for sure. He already sent us a kinda signal by wishing our team the best in Russia. We must not miss out in him.

On Solanke, I hope we can get him. Really don't know where we are on his case.

On Tammy, well you know the story.

On others, Lookman... Get him in by all f**king means! Abeg!
Onomah Josh... Chaaaiii... We cannot lose this kid too. Same with Ovie Ejaria.

On other Naija foreign-borns outside the UK, Arnaut Groeneveld Danjuma is also there for the taking... Noah okafor too.
All these are off the top of my head, I have a full list of these guys.

We need to increase our pool of quality talents across all departments of the team with time Post-Russia.

We must also not forget the likes of Samuel Kalu, Peter Olayinka, Dennis Bonaventure, Samuel Adegbenro, Paul Onuachu Ebere, etc who belong to Naija players who are non-foreign borns.

It is all about time and action (Super proactive action). We will get there. This generation is still emerging. We are not the finished article just yet. Give it time.

Let us not deceive ourselves. NFF fit no get interest.

TheSuperNerd:
He is not fully fit Egbon. From the day he was adjudged to be carrying a thigh injury (May 27 I think) till June 16, that is 20 days gone. June 17 makes it three weeks out for him. Today is June 19, he cannot possibly just be ready to jump unto the field and play at 100%. Remember his injury duration was put at 3-4 weeks. So he cannot be 100% fully fit but he is getting there.


Also, you mentioned Salah I think in an earlier post. The truth is that I have had Salah's kind of shoulder injury (a dislocation of the shoulder joint) myself and it took me two weeks+ to get my shoulder/arm back to full function. Salah's shoulder injury is not in the same league as Simon's thigh injury.

Ok na.

BascoVanVeli:
Pepper soup analyst would have us believe Etebo was average.

Hahahahahaha! Some peeps are not here for the good of the team.

Na to park players wey dem familiar with put field and dem go feel cool.

John Fashanu Advises Rohr : Go And Find More Victor Moses' In The English Premier League

Published: June 19, 2018

Wimbledon legend John Fashanu has noted that the Nigeria squad at the 2018 World Cup is not balanced as they have too many youthful and inexperienced players which could lead to their downfall during the tournament.

The former England international has advised Gernot Rohr to go in search of more Victor Moses to bolster his squad after the World Cup, if he remains the coach of the national team, adding that there are some players of Nigerian descent plying their trade in the English Premier League the manager is unaware of.

Fashanu has expressed regret that he chose to represent England internationally over Nigeria, and has advised the likes of Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori, Dominic Solanke and Philip Billing not to follow in his footsteps.

''Even myself, I had the opportunity, sadly I couldn't get the opportunity as much as I wanted to play for Nigeria, so I opted to play for England, became the first Nigerian to play for England which is great,'' Fashanu told Channels Television.

''Now we are trying to persuade many of our players who are abroad to come back home and play for their fatherland. The mistakes that we elders made have gone and past, now let's start building.

''It is not enough to get Victor Moses and maybe Mikel Obi, we need a few more solid, older experienced players.

''Obviously, Victor Moses is an all-rounder, there is nothing he can't do, as long as that is the first name any manager should start up with, obviously Mikel Obi because he is experienced.

''That is our captain, he is an experienced man, he has played over the world, he knows what he is doing but we need more.''

Fashanu continued : ''We have them everywhere, it was difficult for people to know John Fashanu was a Nigerian when I was playing in England.

''We have wonderful players playing in the English Premier League who are of Nigerian descent. It is for the coach to do his work, go and find these players.

''The English Premier League and playing in Europe gives you an experience you cannot find anywhere else.

''Playing against Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham is different from playing in the local league, so it gives you an advantage. It is for the coach to go out there and start looking, so we have a nice balance.''

Brian Idowu, William Troost-Ekong, Leon Balogun and Tyronne Ebuehi are the foreign-born players in the Nigeria squad for the 2018 World Cup.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

http://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=28213

TheSuperNerd:
Uhmmm... Cool down because I know where you are going with this.

Egbon see ehn... I know the report that reported him being Fully Fit, and I honestly cannot vouch for that. But all the same it is strange. I miss Simon. But he will be back.

It's a very simple arithmetic. I don't need any report to tell me that, and I expressed my curiousity emphatically even before that report, after I calculated from the day the scan showed he will be out for 3-4 weeks.

I deciphered he will be fit even before the first game but Rohr excuse was he feared it may relapse.

Simon Moses is FULLY FIT.

TheSuperNerd:
Honestly, this is why Simon's injury pained me so seriously. This guy was core to our WCQs campaign and would always give us options out wide with his trickery and pace. I was hoping that third scan in London and even the second one in Abuja will say otherwise but it was not to be. It is sad he missed out on this world cup. But Afcon 2019 is a sure banker for him. If I catch any injury that wanna come that lad's way again ehn... And all those ANS guys that were busy writing rubbish about Simon. Their cup shall be full soon.

I just pray he lands a fine deal this summer to console himself a little as he looks forward to even brighter days for the Super Eagles and for his club career. It is well.

Today Salah will start a match after he was out for weeks.

Now, what stops Rohr from keeping Simon Moses in the team when he knew by this time he will be 100% fit?

Or why didn't he bring in one of those fit and inform wingers from the Belgium pro league?

Anyway, We know Simon Moses is FULLY FIT now.

jieta:
To what end, you are one of the most intelligent young guy here. i like reading your discourse concerning our national team. but bringing your self to the extent of exchanging words with komenk is disturbing. you can learn from the way your dad(icon4) handle forgiveness in a very simple and respectable way.

Yes! He handled forgiveness in a very simple and respectable way by calling him Amala and ewedu stew eater. Hmmmmm!

How simple and respectable indeed!

EEGA:
Iwobi will always start ahead of Simon barring injury.

Na lie. Iwobi was never the first choice ahead of Simon Moses from the start of the qualifiers before or after Rohr came. Fact

Look at the snapshot of both players.

1.Iwobi stats showed he was on the bench against Swaziland while Simon Moses played both legs. He didn't start against Zambia in the second leg which was a very crucial match.

2. Simon Moses stats showed he started all the matches after and before Rohr came if available. The only matches he didn't play was against Algeria.

Looking at the stats, Moses Simon is not behind Iwobi in the National team. Fact

Goke7:
you guys should softly softly give rohr more clue to make excuses, the guy may be reading this thread o

Hopefully, we go very far in this competition but Rohr doesn't have any excuse to give because he had all the time in the world to call one of those fit and better wingers currently informed to replace Simon or retain Simon Moses until he gets fit for the next match but he refused.

goldfish80:
Exactly. Thank goodness people are seeing the dynamism he brings to the team.
A peak Simon had Iwobi rooted to the bench in the qualifiers which didn't go down well with some.

I have known that before now and I spoke about it while we played against England but I was rebuked sharply.

If Simon and Moses played on the wings at the same time, it is a whole different ball game entirely.

SerVik:
There be ice dragons here. By aron gunnarsson.


I hope our World Cup opponents aren’t reading this, because I’m gonna tell you exactly what has made our tiny country so successful.

But first, I need to explain a little bit about Iceland. Because I’ve noticed that now, whenever I meet people, they’ll say, “Oh, you’re from Iceland? That’s so cool. Northern Lights! Yeah, man!”

After the Euros put our country in the spotlight, it seemed like everybody started going to Reykjavik on vacation.

But I’m not from the vacation part of Iceland.

I’m from the north of Iceland.

If you try to find my town on old maps, it just says: There Be Ice Dragons Here.

My hometown is a place called Akureyri, with about 18,000 people. There wasn’t really much else to do there except play sports, so I began playing football. Of course, I dreamed of becoming a pro. But there were two problems.

First, I could only play in the summer. You see, in the winter, the pitches were covered with … come on, everybody say it together! You guessed it: ice and snow. And I’m not talking about the kind of winters you have in England, where a few centimeters of snow cause panic. I’m talking about proper winters. Several meters of snow. Minus 10 °. Four or five hours of sunlight a day.

Have you seen Game of Thrones? Well, then you get the idea.

So in winter, I played handball instead. But that didn’t solve my second football problem. You see, when the snow finally melted, I didn’t play on grass. That kind of luxury was reserved only for the senior players.

So I had to play on gravel.

Seriously.

Safe to say, it wasn’t ideal. One day I came home with this horrific gash on my leg, and my mother was shocked. Of course, all I had done was to go into a sliding tackle, but you’d think I had been fighting a bear!

The team I started playing for was called Thór, named after the god of thunder. (I’m not making this up — you can ask my mother.) And I wanted to be a footballer so badly. I was doing these sprints, I was hitting the gym … basically, I was working like a madman. But I also knew the odds were stacked against me. I kept asking myself questions, and I didn’t like the answers.

Aron, how many professional footballers have come from Akureyri?

Not many.

And how good can you possibly get by playing only in summer on a gravel pitch?

Probably not very good.

But I chose to ignore the facts. And then came the game-changer. You see, years ago, the Icelandic Football Association invested heavily in these indoor halls with artificial grass. Suddenly every kid in Iceland could play football all year.

Do you realize how big a deal that was for us? All year!

Of course, I immediately moved into my local hall. I made it my living room. They often had to kick me out at night. But there was still this mental block. What I mean by that is, nobody really believed you could win anything as a footballer from Iceland. In fact, this one time, a player on our national team told me a story about how he told his club coach that he dreamed of playing in the Euros.

“That’s a nice thought,” the coach said. “It’s just a shame you’re from Iceland.”

Pretty depressing, right?

Personally I didn’t let that bother me, but I did know I had to leave Iceland to evolve as a player. So when I got the chance to join AZ Alkmaar, in Holland, I took it. I was 17 years old. And man, it was tough. The football was on another level. In my first training session, I got nutmegged four times. I was so embarrassed that I considered jumping on the first flight back to Iceland.

https://cdn.theplayerstribune.com/uploads/d07bf7f8-180504sr_arongunnarsson_p1453_0135.jpg?width=1000

But the hardest part was leaving my family. I spent the first two months holed up in a hotel, calling my mother, crying, saying I didn’t really want to do this. Thankfully, my family encouraged me to keep going, and deep down I was still hell-bent on making it.

I guess all my tears paid off, because 18 months later I got the call for the Iceland senior squad. They were playing a friendly against Belarus in Malta, and I had to get on a flight immediately in order to make it in time. Only I didn’t have a car. During my first year in Holland, I had been riding a bicycle everywhere because I couldn’t afford anything else.

So you know what my mother did? She bought me a scooter.

A red scooter. It looked more like a motorcycle really, which I thought was kind of badass. I actually grew quite attached to it. So when they called me up to the national team, I strapped on my backpack, put on my bike helmet and drove to the train station, where I got the express train to the airport.

Thanks for that one, mum �

So I go off and live my dream, playing for Iceland, and it’s incredible. I fly back to Holland, and I’m still in the clouds. I’m buzzing. I’m a big time footballer now, right? Well, I walk outside the train station to fetch my scooter from the rack where I had parked it … and what do I see?

In the very spot where my scooter was supposed to be, there’s nothing but a single tire with a chain wrapped around it.

Someone had stolen my damn scooter while I was off playing Belarus.

My mother just laughed about it, but I’m telling you, I was genuinely upset! That robbery really brought me down to earth quickly.

A few years later, I was part of the group that qualified for the 2011 under-21 Euros in Denmark. That was a big deal, because Iceland had never done that. By the time we entered qualifying for the 2014 World Cup, many of us guys from the under-21 team had become part of the senior side.

Of course, even with all that young talent, we were never supposed to make the World Cup.

People always used to say, “Iceland? Bah, there’s not many world-class players in Iceland.”

But, actually, with 330,000 people living there … we don’t have many players full-stop.

So we had to be clever about the way we played. And that’s where our former coach, Lars Lagerbäck, came in.

When you look at Lars, he doesn’t appear to be a prolific coach. He’s very understated. But, man, he knows what he’s doing. When he arrived in 2011 he began holding these meetings about how we defended. They were long, and honestly, extremely boring. Just so, so boring. But Lars kept going on about it. Positioning. Corners. Throw-ins … none of the fun stuff. In training, we’d play attack vs. defense, just so that we could work on our defensive shape.

Because of that collective spirit, we made the playoffs, and faced Croatia. And when we got a 0–0 draw at home… honestly, I thought we had a chance. Then in Croatia, when they went 1–0 up but got a man sent off, we just needed one goal. One goal. We were so close…

But we never made it.

Croatia won 2–0.

Afterwards our locker room was like a graveyard. Not just because we hadn’t won, but because we hadn’t played well. But then somebody says, “Well… Let’s just go to the Euros then!”

I still don’t know who said it, but I remember thinking, He’s right. Screw this. Let’s just move on to the next one.

So that’s what we did. We started working even harder. And in that qualifying campaign for Euro 2016, we just got better and better. Our fans were a huge part of it, too. When we played Holland at home in October, I remember we went up 1—0, and the stadium fell quiet for a bit … and then …

BOOM, BOOM, HÚH!

I turn around. What was that? It was like the sound of a thunder strike.

BOOM, BOOM, HÚH!

Shivers run down my spine.

BOOM, BOOM, HÚH!

You see, that was the first time our fans did the famous Viking Clap. We may only play in front of 10,000 people, but when they do that clap … man, it feels like 100,000.

That night, I looked at some of the Holland players, and I thought, Whoa … They must be feeling that.

At the end of qualifying, we needed a point at home against Kazakhstan to become the smallest nation to ever reach the Euros. That match was a struggle. I even managed to get sent off. But when we dug out that 0–0 draw…. We went ballistic. I sprinted out on the pitch with my jacket on. We did the Viking Clap so loudly that the whole of Iceland must have heard it. And when we went to a square in Reykjavik later that night, we saw tens of thousands of people waiting for us.

That’s when you realize that you’ve really made your country proud, you know?

Of course, qualifying was one thing. The tournament itself? Who knows? Many people thought we would be lucky just not to be embarrassed.

It’s funny, because I can recall the exact moment when I realized that we had something special. It was after a training session just before the tournament, when Eidur Gudjohnsen came up to me.

He said, “You know, Aron … I really wouldn’t want to play against us.”

I said, “What do you mean?”

He said, “Well, there’s no space. I wanted to play these passes, and I wanted to create chances … But I just couldn’t.”

And that’s when the penny dropped for me. Because if you didn’t know, Eidur is football royalty. He’s played for Pep Guardiola at Barcelona — he’s played with Ronaldinho and Messi. Basically, if Eidur says you have a great defense, you really do have a great defense.

We started off against Portugal. And everyone was talking about what Cristiano Ronaldo would do to us. “How many will he get? Two goals? A hat-trick?”

So when we ground out a 1–1 draw … well, the Portuguese weren’t happy.

Of course, we celebrated. Then I saw that Ronaldo had criticized us for having a “small-country mentality”.

And I thought, “Hang on, we’ve never been at this stage before. You have done it plenty of times. We’re Iceland. Of course we’re gonna be proud!”

We could only draw against Hungary next, so we needed a point against Austria in the final group game. They needed to win. As usual, we defended well. It was 1–1 on 90 minutes…. They’re putting pressure on us…. We clear a corner, we launch a counter-attack…. And we score!

Arnór Traustason! 94th minute! Iceland goes through to the knockout stage!

Unbelievable….

I guess you may have seen the clip of the commentator on Icelandic TV going berserk when we score. It went viral, and no wonder. I mean, the guy genuinely lost it. He was screaming and crying, losing his voice.

But the thing is, everyone in Iceland was feeling like that. It wasn’t just the players and the fans — it was people back home too. We were all going berserk.

As we celebrated on the pitch, I went looking for the drummer in the Iceland fan group. I knew him, so I gave him a hint … He told everyone to be quiet … and then we did our most famous rendition of the Viking Clap. We had never done it like that before, with both the fans and the players together.

It was just pure, spontaneous joy.

BOOM, BOOM, HÚH!

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We were so relaxed ahead of the Round of 16 game against England. We had reached our goal — everything else was a bonus. We actually had extra motivation, because everyone in Iceland loves the Premier League — they show every single game on TV. Literally. So now we had this great chance to beat our heroes. And just in case anyone wasn’t fully up for it, Eidur made a speech.

He said, “Is everyone full? Do we want any more? Are we still hungry?”

You can imagine the roar of the response.

It was the opposite for England, I think. I almost felt sorry for them. They were under so much pressure, and you could definitely tell. They were making simple mistakes, getting the basics wrong…. They knew the trouble they would be in if they lost to Iceland.

Everyone spoke about how bad England were, but watch the game again. Look at how organized we are. We run. We shut down space. We cover for each other. What Eidur had said after that training session was spot on: We really are horrible to play against.

When the game was over, I sprinted toward our fans so quickly that I forgot to shake hands with the England players. So if you guys are reading this … sorry!

And, then … well, I know this may sound weird, because I’m this Icelander with all these tattoos and a beard and all that. But as we celebrated, I wanted to cry. Honestly. When we did the Viking Clap with our fans, shivers ran down my spine.

I must admit that it took us a while to come back down to earth after that tournament. But we managed to do it. You see, at our next team meeting, Heimir Hallgrímsson shook us back to life. He had been the joint first coach with Lars during the Euros, but now that Lars had left for the job in Norway, he was in charge.

His message was simple.

We had never made a World Cup in our nation’s history.

So … Why can’t we do it?

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I mean, we could have said, “We’re tiny Iceland. Nobody expects us to qualify. We won’t put any extra pressure on ourselves.”

But there was no way that was happening. That’s just not us.

In fact, at the Euros, we had already sent people to scout our World Cup qualifying opponents. That tells you something about our mindset. We wanted more.

Some of us players are nearing the end now. We’re in our late 20s and early 30s, and we know we’ll have to give way for younger players soon. That’s why it’s so important that we pass on the values that have made us successful. I mean, we could go to Russia and try to play like Barcelona. But what would be the point? We’d just be a bad copy. We’d definitely be a worse team.

That’s not what Iceland is about. It never has been.

In a way, I see our style as a symbol of Iceland. Just look at some of our players — I mean, maybe we’re not the most technical. Maybe we’re not the prettiest to look at. But would you want to fight us? I don’t think so.

We’re united. We’re tough. We fear nothing.

And that’s the lesson I want to pass on to our young players in Russia. I want them to realize that if you work hard, and if you have guys who are willing to stick together, anything is possible in football. Anything. CC: mujtahida


Aron Gunnarsson
ICELAND

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/there-be-ice-dragons-here

Hmmmmm! Iceland got nothing to loose and that's why they feed on teams desperate for a win.

We should be very careful with this team and it will be good we watch how teams scored them. Most especially, how France beat them.