Iceland ready for the match of their lives against England

As soon as Iceland and England were drawn together in the second round of Euro 2016, the mind went back to some words spoken by their co-manager, Heimir Hallgrimsson, in April. “We know we haven’t statistically got a big chance of getting beyond the last 16 but we’ve shown that we can play our best games against the best teams,” he said. “We’ve had really good results against top-class teams and luckily it’s only going to be against a top-class team.”

One thing stands out immediately – the phrase “going to be”. Hallgrimsson had not countenanced the possibility that Iceland, whose 323,000 population and lack of tournament experience are little secret to the football-following public by now, would fail to get this far. His faith that they would progress from the group stage to an altogether bigger date with destiny was total and now, as he had expected, it has arrived.

“If you want the best out of life you have to be ready when the chance is there for you.” That was Hallgrimsson’s mantra on Sunday, as he and his accomplice Lars Lagerback faced the media in Nice, and it would not be a bad one to print on Iceland’s shirts. They have been ready ever since the day, in October 2011, Lagerback took over as manager, initially with Hallgrimsson as a local knowledge-bearing assistant before co-opting him to equal status in 2013. Iceland’s has been a triumph of meticulous planning and indomitable spirit – aided by the emergence of a generation that nobody in the country’s FA minds admitting might just be a one-off.

A sizeable chunk of their squad were involved in the 2011 UEFA Under-21 Championship – qualification for which was an unprecedented achievement. Swansea’s Gylfi Sigurdsson, now the senior side’s most important player, led the way; winger Johan Berg Gudmundsson, midfielder Birkir Bjarnason and striker Alfred Finnbogason also featured and their success has accelerate dramatically. Iceland still believe they should have defeated Croatia in the 2014 World Cup play-offs and that the situation’s novelty, which brought various outside distractions that did not serve them well, accounted for much of their sub-par performances.

That was certainly evident in many of their pre-match pronoucements. It was instructive that Eidur Gudjohnsen – still in the squad but, at 37, more valuable off the pitch than on it nowadays – addressed his team-mates in a meeting after the 2-1 win over Austria that set up the England tie. “[Eidur] stepped in to say a few words about not being satisfied,” Lagerback said. “We are not satisfied with the way we have performed, especially in the attacking part.”

It is hard to talk about Iceland’s drive, their incorrigible ambition, without resorting to intangibles but it is a genuine quality and Hallgrimsson, who has combined his national team role with his work as a dentist on the remote island of Heimaey, is a shining example. Hallgrimsson makes no secret of his love for doing things differently; at Iceland’s home games he makes sure supporters in a bar near the stadium are first to know the team lineup and tactics two hours by addressing them personally two hours before the game, and his is an impressively agile, innovative football mind that sits perfectly alongside the vast experience of Swede Lagerback.

After this tournament, Lagerback will retire and hand the reins fully to Hallgrimsson. Lagerback jokes that his “positive brainwashing” has had an effect on the Iceland team and that they might be glad to see the back of him; in truth the job he has performed is remarkable, wringing the maximum out of a group captained by Cardiff City’s Aron Gunnarsson and sculpting a unit that is difficult to break down while posing a genuine threat further forwards.

If it all clicks enough to yield a victory over England, Iceland will surely have caused the biggest shock – in outsiders’ perspectives at least – ever seen at a European Championship. Whatever happens, nothing will really be the same again. “If [the players] beat England their lives will change and all of our lives will change,” Hallgrimsson said, but that will probably be the case even if they lose. Iceland, who travelled to France with a staff of just 20 – a country of England’s size will usually take an entourage numbering anything between 80 and 100 – have been football’s latest triumph of close-knit, collective endeavour and the story is already good enough to resemble a film script.

Is there room for another chapter? Iceland will need to put in a colossal effort and the fear is that, if they tire to the extent they did against the Austrians, England would be rather more efficient in putting them to the sword, perhaps by stretching a sometimes narrow side in wide areas. But this, to paraphrase Hallgrimsson, is a side that yearns for the best life has to offer – and it would not get much better than a famous victory in Nice.