Scotland can learn from us that it is all about sticking to a style that suits
SAYS ALFRED FINNBOGASON
THE scorer of the first-ever goal at a World Cup finals by the smallest nation ever to qualify, Alfred Finnbogason’s place in Icelandic football’s hall of fame is already assured.
Yet the hero of his country’s opening day 1-1 draw with two-time world champions and 2014 runners-up Argentina is hungry to write yet more history.
Tonight, his tiny island nation take on leaders Croatia in the final Group D match at Rostov Arena, hoping to make it through to the knockout stages of the greatest show on earth.
Should they pip Argentina and Nigeria to make the last 16, Iceland — whose 335,000 population is roughly half that of Glasgow — will have achieved what no Scottish side in history has ever managed.
So who better to turn to in order to find out what Scotland can learn from the latest chapter of the Icelandic fairy tale than Finnbogason, a striker who retains links with Edinburgh after spending two of his formative years as a footballer with the capital’s renowned Hutchison Vale star factory?
According to the Augsburg forward, the remarkable rise of his nation boils down to facilities, coaching and tactics.
First there was the realisation that the standard of football on the island would only improve if young players had somewhere to develop their game, protected from the harsh elements.
A decision was made to build seven full-sized indoor football pitches, along with four half-sized indoor pitches and 23 outdoor artificial pitches and install an artificial mini-pitch at virtually every school on the island to allow kids to play and flourish.
The whole of Scotland, by contrast, still has just three full-sized indoor arenas — eight years after the Henry McLeish review called for £500million to be spent on football facilities by the year 2020.
Iceland also invested money in training first-class coaches, so when talented players like Finnbogason did start to come off the conveyor belt, the right people were there to guide them and maximise their potential.
And once these players reached the national team, a game plan was put in place to ensure Iceland were far greater than the sum of their parts. The success of that approach was there for all to see as they humiliated England in the last 16 at Euro 2016.
That upward curve has continued on a global stage in Russia, despite a second match defeat to Nigeria.
Heimir Hallgrímsson’s side may not get any prizes for aesthetics but no other player across the first group games at the World Cup ran further without the ball than Gylfi Sigurdsson (6.67km) and Emil Hallfredsson (6.41km) in their 1-1 draw with Argentina. Lionel Messi, by contrast, ran just 1.42km without the ball.
Yet if facilities, coaching and tactics have been key to the rise of Iceland, Finnbogason believes the biggest lesson Scotland can learn is that smaller nations must dream big.
‘It has been well documented how much was invested in educating coaches and to improve the facilities in Iceland,’ he told Sportsmail. ‘My generation of players are the first ones to profit from that investment. We have also found a clear way of playing that suits our national team well.
‘But I hope smaller nations like Scotland can learn that it is not about how many you are but how you play together as a team.
‘It was an amazing feeling for me to score Iceland’s first-ever goal at a World Cup. It is always special to score for your country but to do it at the World Cup was extra special.
‘I feel very blessed to represent my country at a World Cup. I have always been a big fan of Gonzalo Higuain and, after the Argentina game, I changed shirts with him.
‘We believe we can make it out of the group stage. That was our goal before the tournament and it hasn’t changed.’
Finnbogason spent two years in Scotland’s capital from 1999, attending Blackhall Primary while his father, Finnbogi, worked towards a Masters degree at Edinburgh University.
Back then, few suspected Alfred would be the next Hutchie graduate to score at a World Cup finals, following John Collins, who, a year earlier, had netted from the spot against Brazil at France ’98.
But Finnbogason loved his time at Saughton Park under coaches Paul Connelly and Alec Robertson at an institution that has also launched the careers of Leigh Griffiths, Kenny Miller, Allan McGregor, Paul Hanlon and Jason Cummings.
‘I have great memories from my time in Edinburgh,’ he said. ‘I remember I was always playing football. On Saturdays, it was with the Blackhall school team and on Sundays with Hutchie Vale.
‘The coaches always put on great sessions. We had a great team, with a lot of good players and it is a shame that there are not more of them playing at a high level.’ Finnbogason began his professional career back in his homeland with Fjolnir and Breidablik before spells at Lokeren in Belgium then on loan at Helsingborg in Sweden.
But it was at Dutch side Heerenveen that he burst to prominence, with 53 goals in 65 appearances. That hot streak of form put him on Celtic’s radar.
But there was to be no return to Scotland as Finnbogason moved to Real Sociedad before arriving in the Bundesliga at Augsburg via a loan spell at Olympiacos in Greece.
‘This rumour (about Celtic) has been around many times, especially when I was playing at Heerenveen,’ he recalled.
‘I know there was interest at some point but it never got so far that I had to make a decision about it.
‘It would have been a nice story but I am quite happy with how my career has gone — with all its highs and lows.’