Gunnarsson: Wales have showed us that anything’s possible
GUNNARSSON only needs to look at Wales, the country he calls home, for inspiration ahead of the greatest night in Iceland’s football history.
Iceland, the smallest nation to play at a European Championship finals, have enjoyed a fairytale ride to the quarter-finals where they take on France in Paris.
Captain Gunnarsson knows he and his men are being written off — just as they were before they beat England in Nice on Monday. Having defied the odds then and seen Wales stun Belgium to get into the last four, Gunnarsson believes anything is possible.
‘Like we knew before the tournament, they were not favourites to go that far and we weren’t either,’ said Gunnarsson, the Cardiff star who has lived in Wales since 2011.
‘It is a joy to watch and I think Wales are a force to be reckoned with. They have a good squad, good players and a tough togetherness. I think they’re showing great attitude and desire to win football matches.
‘It is something we can definitely learn from. I think we are quite similar to them, especially in that direction.’
And Iceland are used to dealing with being massive outsiders.
They have already beaten Austria and England as well as drawing with Portugal — and all that coming after a qualifying campaign in which they beat Holland home and away.
‘If you don’t believe, we wouldn’t be here I don’t think,’ he said when asked if they could win Euro 2016. ‘It’s a simple answer.
‘In this group we fought hard to get where we are and we will keep on fighting. But, like the old cliche, we take one game at a time.
‘France is another tough game for us and they’ve got a really good team, but then again it is 11 players v 11 players and it starts 0-0.
‘We’ve always got a chance if we manage to
approach the game tactically right.’
For Iceland to stun the hosts at the Stade de France it is going to need another rock-solid defensive effort — something which rightback Birkir Saevarsson says is guaranteed.
Saevarsson, who successfully shackled Raheem Sterling in Iceland’s 2-1 win over England and now faces the more daunting challenging of stopping Dimitri Payet, said: ‘It is just about being aggressive.
‘I was pleased with how I handled Sterling. I kept pace with him, tackled him hard when I could and my confidence grew throughout the match.’
In Sterling, of course, Saevarsson was up against a player whose confidence seemed low.
Payet, on the other hand, could not be in better form — and Saevarsson is well aware of his strengths.
‘Most of all,’ he said, ‘don’t let him go inside and shoot with his right foot. Preferably get him on the left foot.’