Tiny Iceland continues live the dream to
The thunderclap is headed to Russia. Any neutrals looking for a team to get behind at the World Cup shouldn’t look any further than Iceland, a feelgood story of international soccer that just keeps on giving.
With about 330,000 inhabitants, the Nordic country is comfortably the smallest to ever qualify for the tournament. Two years ago, Iceland reached the European Championship for the first time, too, and got to the quarterfinals — famously eliminating England along the way.
The Icelandic fairytale is made more charming by its vociferous and passionate fans, who made the “thunderclap” war chant the soundtrack of that summer in France in 2016. Don’t be surprised if it has the same impact in Russia.
Adding to the legend is the team’s coach, Heimar Hallgrimsson, who combines managing the national team with running a dental surgery clinic in a small town in Iceland.
And a hard-working, selfless group of mostly unheralded players who are simply living out their dream in front of the watching world. in the round of 16.
Suarez promises he is a reformed character and will be better behaved in Russia than in Brazil, where he scored twice before being banned.
“It was my mistake,” Suarez said. “So I have a debt to repay to myself and Uruguay, to try to show a good image.”
Things were already starting to look brighter for two-time World Cup champion Uruguay, based on qualifying at least.
After enduring four consecutive World Cup playoffs and only reaching three of the tournaments, Uruguay secured an automatic place in Russia by finishing second behind Brazil in qualifying. and injury-prone.
The favored target is mustachioed Russian coach Stanislav Cherchesov. TV star and comedian Ivan Urgant is appealing to Russians to post images of themselves wearing mustaches as a show of support, and his tongue-incheek hashtag “Mustaches of Hope” became a quick hit.
Popular singer Semyon Slepakov has a more radical idea: Replace the coach with Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. “Ramzan, Ramzan, Ramzan, tough like parmesan,” sings Slepakov in a video released this week.
He imagines what would happen if Putin ordered Kadyrov to take over the team. Channeling Kadyrov, the singer threatens the players: “Don’t forget, you only have one life.”
Yet even this imagined Kadyrov — whose security forces stifle dissent and enforce strict Islamic rules in Chechnya, and whose rule is stained by reports of torture and killings — is overwhelmed by the coaching task.
They’re the longest of long shots to reach the final.
The home team will likely need to win to have a realistic hope of advancing from Group A, and is expected to have Russian President Vladimir Putin in the crowd for support as it bids to end a winless streak of seven games. Only one World Cup host nation has failed to get past the group stage — South Africa in 2010.
The other two teams in the group, Egypt and Uruguay, boast star forwards in Mohamed Salah and Luis Suarez who could cause major problems for the Russia and Saudi defenses.
The Saudis lost their last three games but remain upbeat at their first World Cup appearance for 12 years.