₦airaland Forum

andrew444:
It's not easy we can't get all foreign guys

We are lucky to get ebuehi especially now that he is a benfica player if not we for hear am.

If ebuehi dey team like Ajax to get am go be wahala oo,thank God say e don dey super eagles before he join benfica

It is easy to get them 100%.

These players do not need the SE to further thier careers, they found it for love if the Fatherland.

However, not with this insincere approach from the NFF, we will not attract them.

Unfortunately officials are looking to make corrupt deals under the table and slaughter excellence and enthrone mediocrity, for thier personal gain.

lexyman:
i will prefer this Formation Against iceland .

We will lose with this lol.

tbaba1234:
Nigeria was slow with Manuel Akanji... He was open to playing for Nigeria. If he rejected Switzerland to wait for Nigeria, what is the guarantee that we will not give him the Otigba treatment?

Now you are opening the can of worms.

We want to pretend that we dont know what our officials are looking for.

Bolowolowo:
We will lose with this lol.

i know all of you want 3-5-2 but Iceland is not a attacking side , Iceland play dirty defensive style of football ... if we must win we must attack them from both wings .... i stick to Ighalo cos he didn't get much supply against Croatia ... if you feed this guy he will score .

edi287:
Agreed. I've been following him lately and that guy will add a lot to this our midfield. NFF should be on his case

I have known Tega since he was 15 then the three coaches at Tottenham U18 were Ehiogu (RIP), Chris Ramsey and Les Ferdinand.

Then he was full of tricks and skill showboating etc. But now he has become a complete midfielder who has outstanding end product. He is physically strong in case you want to get rough, excellent passing range too.

He is probably the highest rated U21 player in midfield by England.

somehow:
We don't have any fighting center forwards again which is so sad. Ighalo is unfortunately not that kind of a forward

I think he can be with right service.

He got Zero service how many through balls did he get in the entire match. Ighalo fought for scraps and crumbs.

He still the best option KC in the same position would not have done any better probably worse.

Goke7:
most of our players come from deep poverty background, once they begin to earn some thousand dollars, they feel it's the peak and they relax instead of dreaming bigger, it's also the problem of the Nigerian average youth. I once read about a graduate from unn who said until he came to serve [NYSC in the west, that's when he knew companies like like PWC and KPMG exists. Our minds as Nigerians are so small. Do you know if we even crashed out in the first round, most of these players with the allowances and bonus they will collect, they will see it as huge achievement in 2018. Most of them just wanted to appear in the world cup, nothing more including the nff officials that went on the trip, all the perks they have gotten will be seen as God's favour and blessings in 2018 and hope that 2019 will be come with its own. That is how we think in Nigeria, we don't dream bigger for long lasting enduring success, prosperity and legacy unlike other climes.

I had a friend who shared the same sentiments

All you've sad is true bro. Most of them are just happy to be in white man's land. Nofuture plans for development as a player. Nothing.

Later, you'll hear they are in Belarus or Malta playing pro-football. Shame...

edi287:
True. Nacho's finishing is something that we sorely need in this lineup. The question is how do we fit both in alongside Iwobi, Mikel, Ndidi and Vic Moses?
Vic Moses should be played as a wing back but I doubt he'll be cool with that

Moses has to choose between been cool and playing for the team to qualify.

We will be very solid and lethal playing Moses and Ebuehi as WBs. Iheanacho and Iwobi should lead our attack(those two have some telepathy understanding between them) by playing right in front of Mikel. Etebo and Ndidi should sit at the base of the team. Omuero Balogun and Ekong at the back.

Me personally don't want to see Musa start. We don't have the luxury of time to have him start.

darkelf:
I had a friend who shared the same sentiments

All you've sad is true bro. Most of them are just happy to be in white man's land. Nofuture plans for development as a player. Nothing.

Later, you'll hear they are in Belarus or Malta playing pro-football. Shame...

all for survival, no vision at all.

tbaba1234:
Nigeria can still make it out of the group but we need much better showings in subsequent games.

My emotions say yes, yes and a big YES.

But in the cold light of day looking at it objectively it is highly unlikely.

Mujtahida:
Even if your source is Rohr himself all I'm telling you is that all the talk about doing well in camp is something I disregard cos na for camp all our players dey do well, score goals and shine. Match day is match day. I don't reckon with players based on how they perform in camp. Experience has taught me not to do so.

For now our league is poor. Beyond that though I have never been a fan of the league and nothing will make me be, cos I never acquired the taste for it even though I admit that if we want to get it right we MIGHT have to look inwards.

I didn't even watch chan abi WAFU. In fact I found the enthusiasm of many here for those tournaments surprising. This is to tell you how cut off I am from our local football. I am just that way. But I agree that the league must be developed.

Agreed without reservation

In addition l will add if you see some players in training they are unimpressive but on match day thay become Lions.

Humility017:
please replace Ighalo with simmy....

I have not seen much of Simi so I am hard pressed to believe he is better than Ighalo.

He is very tall and that's about it.

Also he came on for barely 8 minutes so it's difficult to make a judgement.

lexyman:
i know all of you want 3-5-2 but Iceland is not a attacking side , Iceland play dirty defensive style of football ... if we must win we must attack them from both wings .... i stick to Ighalo cos he didn't get much supply against Croatia ... if you feed this guy he will score .

Our Midfielders and wingers are willing to feed Ighalo but he has no plates and spoon. So do we expect the same Midfielders to provide that for him.

Sir, with Ighalo, we are unlikely to score or create any meaningful chance and if we do, whats the probability that he will score. Don't forget he needs 5 clean chances to score 1. Our best bet is to start a more crafty forward line.

komekn:
I think he can be with right service.

He got Zero service how many through balls did he get in the entire match. Ighalo fought for scraps and crumbs.

He still the best option KC in the same position would not have done any better probably worse.

Can you people stop insulting our sensibility with this crap of an excuse? Who gave Iheanacho and others the services they had when they came in few mins to go? The ones he got, what did he do with them?

For the past 7 matches he hasn't scored for us while others did the scoring, who gave those ones services? This is getting ridiculous and must stop!

The rebound Iwobi scored against England, was he not the first person fed the ball? Did he score?

Who gave ronaldo services?
Who gave Costa service for the individual goal he scored against Portugal?

All these useless excuses should stop.

How come we have been scoring without him? Who has been giving the scorers services?

This is pissing me off

Godamit!

komekn:
The reality is he currently the best striker we have in the squad.

This why having strength in depth is important in a squad. KC can not play the No.9 Role, anywhere near as good as Ighalo.

So we have to make do with what we have.

Seriously? Come on sir...

If you are indeed wise you won't be quick to display your dark stupidity.

If you are indeed intelligent, you won't be also quick to display your smelling neanderthalic empty-headedness.


Komekn...I put it to you that you are indeed devoid of intelligence and understanding. You are a dollopheaded idiot of the first order.


Did you not see my conversation at all, at all??!!! What kind of a lazy old stupid idiot are you sef?!! Can't you read a Convo??!! Jumping into my mention and saying jargons of things you do not understand! I will appreciate it, if next time before you dare come upon my mentions, for you to do a careful study of a convo before spilling your dark and smelly ignorance mixed with the boiling oil of your crass stupidity


In conversation with Andrew444 or whosoever and throughout this thread, I have always emphasized our post-Russia recruitment drive to involved the Foreign Naija borns (Lookman, Billing, Ejaria, etc) and also the non-foreign Naija borns playing abroad (S.Kalu, Peter Olayinka, etc)

I have to distinguish both categories for better understanding so that no one will think I want us to only focus on one category and abandon the other but you jumping in to try twist it all shows your level.... You may sound like a man speaking sesquipedalianic grammar but your reasoning and mentality depicts your level as one from the gutters and the slums of the earth. You are an epitome of zero sense and zero attempt to stay along the line of understanding because you are just incapable of doing so.

You are a old f**l for trying to paint me in a silly light which you obviously find yourself operating under. Better luck next time okay... Silly old Allardyce and Idiotic southgate. Be warned. Never you quote me to spill lies and rubbish in my moniker's mention again gerrit? Or you won't like the next step I will take with you as regards your identity. You have been warned.

Now have a good day Dollophead. Don't stain me with your deep disgusting bile of pretentious ignorance.

komekn:
Bigoted divisory discriminatory approach that has nothing to do with excellence.

You show your undiluted prejudice against Nigerian because they were not born in Nigeria.

That's backward thinking that underpins where tribalism and nepotism have come from. Shockingly you describe yourself as a progressive youth.

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.

Simon never kept Iwobi rooted on the bench.

lexyman:
i know all of you want 3-5-2 but Iceland is not a attacking side , Iceland play dirty defensive style of football ... if we must win we must attack them from both wings .... i stick to Ighalo cos he didn't get much supply against Croatia ... if you feed this guy he will score .

How many goals has Ighalo scored for us sef?

This is my first quote during the Brazil-Switzerland game.
Harping on our need to keep our eyes open for another foreign born being blooded in at Basel FC same way Maunel Akanji was...

TheSuperNerd:
Truly he has been good. He even won a challenge in a race with Gabriel Jesus easily beating him off the ball. Akanji is another loss but I hope we don't miss out on Noah Okafor playing in same club that breeded Akanji... Basel FC.

Akanji is now a Dortmund player by the way. His rise continues.

lexyman:
i know all of you want 3-5-2 but Iceland is not a attacking side , Iceland play dirty defensive style of football ... if we must win we must attack them from both wings .... i stick to Ighalo cos he didn't get much supply against Croatia ... if you feed this guy he will score .

Bros abeg no make me vex, feed Ighalo ko? Ighalo should stop parading himself as a striker. Lukaku, Aguero and Harry Kane are his mates. They have all scored. The last time he scored was against Cameroon!!!!. Please anybody but Ighalo.

oloriooko:
I don't see Gary Southgate as a good coach, he's just fortunate to have good individual players at the period he was made coach

He must have something.

There has never been so many black guys in the England team.

Certitude:
Simon never kept Iwobi rooted on the bench.

A fit Simon can be on the bench while Iwobi and Musa plays on the wing .... our most reliable winger is Simon follow by Victor Moses ... quote me ... Moses has not been consistence .

Certitude:
How many goals has Ighalo scored for us sef?

what options do we have , if we re playing a lone striker ?

How do u solve a problem like resolute, physical, passionate, mentally strong, and united Iceland? This game will be action from start to finish. It will be a tougher test than Croatia.

Then this was my next comment after Andrew444 quoted me stressing the simple fact that we cannot get all the foreign-borns.

I relplied and said we must try. We may not get all but we must try. I was among the first to say so long long ago before even that idiotic Komekn showed up here to begin his actual bigoted campaign. Rubbish!

I also went on to say we must do that ALONGSIDE bringing in even those quality ones that are not foreign-borns but are also based abroad (this is where the likes of Olayinka, Kalu, Bonaventure, Ajagun etc falls into) and good fringe players (this is where others like Kayode, Esiti etc falls into).

Or does someone refuses to understand the meaning of "ALONGSIDE"?? What sort of selective silly reasoning is this as displayed by this idiot of a man called Komekn? Lord! Mister, you really picked on the wrong moniker today. Better back off else you will be soooo in for it.

TheSuperNerd:
I was among the first to say long long ago that we surely won't get all but we must try to get the quality ones/potentials we can get our hands on.

We must not fail in this regard.... It must be part of our Post-Russia project alongside the gradual blooding in of Other Naija young super talents (the non-foreign borns) and good fringe players.

I have said it few times and I am saying this again.

Oasis007:


Easy Bro, how did you come to this Conclusion - that the Iceland Team lacks creativity? So sigurdsson and other Midfielders in the Team ain't creative?! Any Fact to prove it??





Chief Coach...... another Fallacy. Has Iwobi ever played as SS for the Eagles, specifically behind Iheanacho as the leading Striker?! Who dash Iwobi speed Sir?! Even Iheanacho ain't a real pacy Player. Understanding you say? On or off the Pitch?!





Master Tactician.......... which one be auxiliary Center Back ni tori Olohun. Mikel as an auxiliary CB?! Kada Kada Sir.





Senior Manager........ and you will be comfortable with two slow CBs in a 3 at the back Formation?! Even ready to experiment a Player as slow as Ogu in a must win Match?!





Lord..... how do you plan to win with this Setup and Lineup?! Ogu at the back?! Etebo as a No. 10?! Iwobi as a SS and Iheanacho as the lead Striker?! LMAO.

Bruh, we will be tactically disgraced, nullified, and brutally massacred by Icelanders.

Cc Mujtahida, Joebie, Chriskel, Elyte89, AIG07, forgiveness........ here comes the Coach to replace Rohr after the Mundial.

I saw those projections and looked at the moniker and thought, new pikin he neva see road well.

If we played that formation we would concede three huge ingredients needed to win a match, one way or another.

Therefore we would concede on ;

Height
Physicality
Speed

We would get murdered in cold blood.

lexyman:
what options do we have , if we re playing a lone striker ?

Er... I believe dump the lone striker formation!

O pari!

After my other comment, Andrew444 said, "You have made a big point."

And I went on and said this below in my third major post on the matter recently still during the Brazil-Switzerland game.







Note: **This is to again set the records straight because I am certain we have a few lots like Komekn the dollopheaded idiot, who loves to isolate people's comments and try inject his own meanings into things said** Finito.

TheSuperNerd:
Yeah... And honestly this is why when Forgiveness goes on about some unknown talent somewhere that is Nigerian, I give a listen (not when he is taking the other route ooo... Lol). Same with Sir Tbaba1234... I try to have my eyes on Nigerian talents everywhere, foreign Nigerian born or those born here and thriving in some top or decent or maybe modest leagues in Europe.

Before most of you joined, Forgiveness and Tbaba1234 have dropped names of Nigerian talents from all over. Myself inclusive. This is why I understand Forgiveness from that angle... because with that, he wants us to get in some quality options too which is actually great for the Super Eagles in the long run.

We certainly cannot get all... But try, we must. In trying we will land some quality more going forward.

Our post-russia recruitment drive must be doubled big time.

For example, Philip Billing is there for the taking. We must not be slack. Same with Ademola Lookman, we really must look at him.

Goke7:
all for survival, no vision at all.

What do you want them to do?
When push comes to shove,they need to provide for their families. Coupled with the reality that in Nigeria once you are outside the country everyone thinks you're the breadwinner and cash should be filtering back to them

Oasis007:


You can't have 2 false 9s in a Setup Sir? Mind explaining how?! Secondly how do you expect 3 - 5 - 2 Formation to work when you are playing with your so called false 9s?!

Ighalo can play as a Target-Man. He has proven it, what's he's lacking is Support. Ighalo ain't the Problem, playing Mikel behind him is the real Problem Sir.

GBAM KORRECT

Truidstar:
Bros abeg no make me vex, feed Ighalo ko? Ighalo should stop parading himself as a striker. Lukaku, Aguero and Harry Kane are his mates. They have all scored. The last time he scored was against Cameroon!!!!. Please anybody but Ighalo.

And these ones you are screeching about scored by fighting for the ball, or where they not supplied

Una de derive joy from misyarn?

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!

https://cdn.theplayerstribune.com/uploads/4e891484-ttwire_ap_494137560080.jpg?width=1440

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?

https://cdn.theplayerstribune.com/uploads/f6dab7d9-180504sr_arongunnarsson_p1453_0169.jpg?width=1000

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

.
See his face like Ragnar Lothbrok's . But I still think this team is being overrated. Don't get me wrong,there're a compact side but there's a thing line between being precautious and then being FEARFUL of them and I think that's what's happening now.