Little to No Expectations
If Leicester City F.C.’s 2015-16 season taught the soccer world anything, it’s that you should never write off a team that has no expectations. Iceland was seen by many as one of the weakest teams in the tournament and unlikely to progress from the group stages. Being at their first-ever international tournament, they were elated but not expecting much.
In their first game of Euro 2016, Iceland held the lackluster Portugal to a 1-1 draw. Against Hungary, the game ended in another 1-1 draw and it looked to be the same result against Austria until the 94th minute. Iceland hit the Austrians on a counterattack and Arnor Ingvi Traustason sent home a goal to make all Icelandic soccer fans absolutely ecstatic. This 2-1 victory against Austria marked Iceland’s first-ever win in an international tournament.
The Gameplan
The core of this Icelandic team comes from the Under-21 side that qualified for the 2011 UEFA European Championship in Denmark. Many of the players have played with each other for a number of years and this helped in building team chemistry.
Despite fielding a four-man midfield in all three of their group stage matches, Iceland have only averaged between 33 and 37 percent possession of the ball. Captained by the bearded and beautiful Aron Gunnarsson, they sacrifice possession for defensive security. This team is also fond of their long throw-ins, using them almost as makeshift corner kicks. Two of the five goals they’ve scored in this tournament are results from such a throw-in — one of which came in their 2-1 victory against England.
“Wait, but what happened to England? I thought they were really good?”
Even with arguably two of the most inform strikers in European soccer, England were only able to get one goal from Jamie Vardy in the four games and none from Harry Kane. It also doesn’t help that their manager, Roy Hodgson, made some poor managerial decisions. Harry Kane, one of the tallest players on the English team, was appointed to take set pieces and corner kicks instead of being in the area where he can head the ball and possibly score.
Hodgson was also criticized for not substituting in Marcus Rashford sooner, a fast and fearless 18-year-old who can run at the Icelandic defense. Rashford was brought in at the 86th minute, not nearly enough time to make enough of a contribution. However, in his mere 8 minutes, he completed 3 dribbles — more than any other player on the field.
Being down 2-1 at the half against Iceland, England definitely had the ability to come back and win the game. However, their lack of energy, inability to string a solid number of passes to get an attack going, and extremely poor managerial decisions saw the score remain the same and, thus, England fell to Iceland.
Roy Hodgson has since stepped down from his managerial position and will always be remembered for this embarrassing 2-1 loss to Iceland and for wasting the unmistakable talent that this 2016 England squad possessed. The England fans will have their heads in their hands after having this miserable week.
Their Country Behind Them
Iceland, with a population of about 323,000, are the smallest country ever to qualify for an international soccer tournament. However, they don’t let this stop them from joining the party in France. Approximately 27,000 Icelanders have purchased tickets to see their beloved nation take part in the tournament. That’s 8% of their population!
The Icelandic fans are an insanely passionate unit in the stadium. At the end of the game, their captain, Aron Gunnarsson, leads the crowd in a terrifyingly electric viking chant that would intimidate any opposition.
Iceland play France on July 3 for the quarter-finals of UEFA Euro 2016 and whether they win or not, they have already made history and everyone at home is surely proud of them.
