World cheers new Ice Age
Tiny Iceland to make Cup debut guided by dentist-turned-coach
Heimir Hallgrimsson wasn’t bothered by the singing, swaying crowd one night in March that turned Levi’s Stadiuminto Little Mexico.
Never mind the 68,917 raucous fans attending the World Cup tuneup amounted to onefifth of the population of Hallgrimsson’s Iceland, the blip of a country that has caught the imagination of soccer worldwide.
“I think everybody will support Iceland in Russia,” the dentist-turned- coach said. “They will all be on our side.” And why not? Iceland, the Nordic island best known for volcanoes, geysers and Bjork, is making its World Cup debut at 6 a.m. Pacific on Saturday against soccer giant Argentina in a Group D showdown in Moscow. ( The Earthquakes are showing all World Cup games for free at Avaya Stadium).
Thematch was the first group game to sell out for the tournament that ends July 15.
Iceland, the smallest country in history to appear in a World Cup, brings excitement to an event that won’t include soccer powers Italy, Netherlands and Chile. Those countries, along with the United States, failed to make it to Russia.
But the Icelanders haven’t let the momentous achievements change them as they inched up the soccer ladder.
Not with Hallgrimsson in charge. The coach from the island of Heimaey is so down-toearth that he returns home from time to time to practice dentistry at a local clinic.
“Some coaches like to play golf in their spare time, others go fishing,” he has said. “I go tomy dental office.”
Hallgrimsson, 50, has developed another tradition that has endeared him to Icelandic fans. He makes house calls at a local Reykjavik pub to chat with fans hours before national teamhome games.
In what can best be described as a scene froma fictional movie, the blond-haired coach meets the team’s core fan group behind locked doors and shares the game plan for the upcoming match. That includes starting lineups and formations.
Try that with even a team such as the Earthquakes, who keep such information locked up tighter than Fort Knox. After seven years, no Icelander has ever betrayed the trust, Hallgrimsson recently told Sports Illustrated.
Iceland, long an afterthought on the sporting stage, got the world’s attention at the 2016 European Championships. The country tied Portugal and Hungary and defeated Austria in group play then stunned England 2-1 in the round of 16. Even after France eliminated them 5-2 in the quarterfinals, the Vikings played the past two years with supreme confidence.
“It was a moment when you walked into the stadium and you thoughtmaybe we were too small for this, but then we proved that we weren’t,” Hallgrimsson said. “I think it will be the same type of feeling” for the World Cup.
So far, Iceland has proved its mettle. The country advanced to the World Cup by finishing first in a group that included always-tough Croatia, Turkey and Ukraine.
After advancing in the fall, the players performed their traditional Viking ‘ Thunderclap with their supporters and then joined crowds at Ingolfstorg square in downtown Reykjavik.
Even as the players have become hometown celebrities they have remained levelheaded, team captain Aron Gunnarsson said.
“That’s our identity,” he explained. “We want to be true to where we are from and no one is too big to play for this team. Like we’ve said many times, our biggest star is the guy who works the hardest. That’s what identifies the team’s spirit. We’ve got a bond be- tween the fans and the team, and that’s what we need to do to get results.”
Hallgrimsson described Icelanders as optimistic.
“They expected us to win every game and go to the World Cup,” he said. “But we are also realistic, and even when we lose a game, they will be optimistic the next game afterward.”
Iceland’s rise has been a longtermproject, although it seems as if the Viking nation has arrived as spectacularly as one of its famous geysers.
For example, star attacking midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson has played in the Premier League since 2012. He joined Liverpool power Everton last summer in a deal that made him Iceland’s most expensive player ever.
The team also relies on Alfred Finnbogason of FC Augsburg of the Bundesliga. The striker also has played in La Liga for Real Sociedad. Top center-forward Kolbeinn Sigborsson, however, will miss out because of injury.
“These guys have been playing consistently well for now six years,” said Hallgrimsson, a one-time amateur player. “We’ve beaten really good football nations, almost qualified for the World Cup in Brazil after losing to Croatia. We don’t like them very much. They always seem to be the hurdle that we cannot jump over. Now we did. The first time we have beaten them in the last summer.”
Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio said the team reflects the island’s social and culture ascent.
“It’s a country with a strong mentality,” he said in Spanish.
Iceland is tall and strong and plays what is known as a direct game. No fancy footwork and Barcelona FC ball control.
This is a team that epitomizes “strength in numbers.” It will need to stay compact in evenly matched Group D that also includes Croatia — those guys, again — and Nigeria.
Argentina is favored to advance to the knockout round but it’s anyone’s guess who the other team might be.
But don’t think of Iceland as a World Cup novelty.
“We go into the competition with the belief that we deserve to be there like everyone else,” Hallgrimsson said. “Why should we think something else when we have a chance to progress from the group? We qualified and were higher in the table than Croatia, so have belief in ourselves.”