By Andrew Warshaw in Paris
June 23 – The fairytale – astonishingly, incredibly – lives on. Bring on England next for the smallest nation ever to take part in the European Championship finals.
What a story, the like of which may never be witnessed again. It was one of those ‘I was there’ sporting occasions in terms of sheer emotion when Arnor Ingvi Traustason supplied the most unlikely of winners with the last touch of the ball against Austria on Wednesday to keep the Iceland’s rollercoaster dream alive and prompt total bedlam as just about all of the support staff rushed off the bench amid unforgettable scenes at the Stade de France.
The fact that Traustason was only thrown on as a substitute 10 minutes from time made the moment all the more poignant and joint head coach delighted Heimir Hallgrimsson, whose side are still unbeaten after clinching second place in the group, was in no mood to downplay the significance. “I guess we will change national holiday. Normally it is 17th June (Icelandic Republic Day), I guess they’ll change it now,” he said. “That’s what it means to us.”
He said his battle-weary side, who have hardly been changed unlike many other sides with greater resources, would not be afraid of England after five days’ rest.
“We will have to have our best game but even then we know we can still lose. But Iceland knows everything about English football, we are English football crazy. I don’t think we need analyse them much but I don’t think they know too much about Iceland players.”
After Iceland drew with Portugal in a backs-to-the-wall opening group game Cristiano Ronaldo accused them of having not played the game as it should be played. His comments made front and back page headlines in the island of 330,000 inhabitants and infuriated the local public.
“What he has to say is irrelevant to us,” said Halgrimsson who doubles up as a dentist back home. “We don’t mind what other people think of us, we try to do our best and I think the players on the pitch show they give their best.”
“Everybody who was watching the (Austria) game saw how much it meant to us, we were willing to sacrifice everything for the win. We were lucky on occasion but we showed a fantastic mentality, there were a lot of tired legs, everyone knows we played almost the same players all the games. It’s time to recover, enjoy and recover, we are really satisfied to get to this stage.”
Kari Arnason, the defender voted man of the match, paid tribute to his teammates and Iceland’s 10,000-strong blue army of fans, some three percent of the population. “I can’t really describe it. To do this with your best friends is fantastic,” he said. “It’s extra fun to do this beside my best friends. And the supporters: it’s like having your family here, I know probably 50% of the crowd or recognise them. This is extra sweet for us.”
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