HERE COME THE ICEMEN
The goalkeeper’s called Thor and he makes films (and they reckon Portugal are a bunch of actors)
IF ICELAND ever want to turn their fairy-tale run to Euro 2016 into a movie, they can ask goalkeeper Hannes Thor Halldorsson, a part-time film director responsible for the video for his country’s Eurovision Song Contest entry four years ago.
Just don’t expect veteran manager Lars Lagerback to buy into the Hollywood schmaltz.
The 67-year- old former Sweden and Nigeria coach has only brought more attention to Iceland’s first ever appearance at a major championships ahead of tonight’s Group F clash with Portugal in Saint-Etienne by criticising the playacting of Cristiano Ronaldo and his Real Madrid team-mate Pepe.
‘We’ve seen some Portuguese players diving,’ said Lagerback. ‘Portugal have one of the best players in the world in Ronaldo but he’s also an excellent actor.
‘In the final of the Champions League against Atletico Madrid, we saw another performance from someone who could be in Hollywood (Pepe). I don’t like that. I’d like it if they were able to watch the videos to retrospectively punish that sort of thing.
‘I mention Pepe. I mean, you can see the clips. For me, that is acting, really, of high class. But I don’t know what demands they have in Hollywood. Maybe he can’t go in there and get a job. I’m not a professional in that area.’
As Lagerback enters the final few weeks of what is expected to be his last contract in football, he may feel he has nothing left to lose. The same could be said for his team.
Iceland are the smallest nation ever to qualify for a major tournament. With a population of 330,000, it is the same size as Leicester, which might not be the only comparison Lagerback wants to make with the home of the new Premier League champions. Northern Ireland, the next smallest nation here in France, has five times as many inhabitants.
Iceland progressed from a group that included Holland, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Latvia, beating the Dutch home and away.
Not bad for a country built on volcanic rock in the middle of nowhere. In fact, the climate there means that Icelanders can only play outdoor football on grass for six months of the year between May and October.
But the sport is bigger than ever, thanks in no small measure to Lagerback’s success in taking the national team into the top 40 in the world rankings since the Swede was talked into one last coaching job in October 2011.
After Euro 2016, Lagerback will hand over to his assistant Heimir Hallgrimsson, who also runs a dental practice in his hometown on Heimaey, an island off Iceland’s south coast.
‘Some people play golf, I do dentistry,’ says Hallgrimsson. ‘My mother was always really unhappy that I wasn’t practising more. In Iceland you don’t make money being a football coach.’
There aren’t too many household names in an Iceland squad with players scattered liberally around Europe.
Their greatest export is, of course, Eidur Gudjohnsen, the former Barcelona and Chelsea star — latterly of Molde — who is still going strong at the age of 37.
Equally familiar to English fans is Gylfi Sigurdsson of Swansea, who was Iceland’s top scorer in qualifying with six goals.
Sigurdsson insists there is no pressure on the underdogs as they prepare to take their tournament bow against Ronaldo and Co tonight in a group that also includes Austria and Hungary.
‘We haven’t really set ourselves any targets,’ he said. ‘We’re in a tough group and the biggest achievement for us was to get there.
‘But we were in a tough qualifying group with Holland, Turkey and the Czech Republic, and everyone was very surprised that we managed to get here.
‘So we will enjoy it, hopefully get a good start to the Euros and do as well as possible.
‘I didn’t have much time to think about the Euros because of the situation we were in at Swansea in the Premier League.
‘But it was always in the back of your mind because it’s such a big thing for the country.’
It is a remarkable story indeed. Having taken his adopted country to within a play-off of the last World Cup, Lagerback — who steered Sweden to five tournaments — has got Iceland to France.
Typically, he is not about to carried away by the drama of it all.
‘I’m not a dreamer to be honest,’ he says. ‘I’m a realistic optimist.’
“You can see the clips of Pepe. He could get a job in Hollywood”