Iceland review - 2015, Page 74

72 ICELAND REVIEW
BON VOYAGE, SOUTH TO FRANCE
What a boring game of football. A goalless draw
against Kazakhstan in pouring rain in Reykjavík. At
the final whistle from the Hungarian referee, the
10,000-strong crowd at the sold-out Laugardalsvöllur stadium
went berserk. On September 6, 2015, Iceland qualified for the
UEFA Euro 2016 Championship, with two games in hand. For
the first time ever, strákarnir okkar (‘our boys’) will be playing
at a major championship (although the women’s team has twice
competed in the UEFA Championship, in 2009 and 2013).
DON’T SACK THE SWEDE!
On the sideline, alone, stood a 67-year-old Swede, from a dis-
tance looking at his players and staff jumping for joy, the crowd
screaming. The maestro, Icelandic national team manager Lars
Lagerbäck—who managed the Swedish national team from
1998 to 2009, leading Sweden to five consecutive champion-
ships—has done it again, and now with tiny Iceland.
Since Lars was appointed by the Icelandic Football Association
(KSÍ) in October 2011, Iceland has climbed more than 100 places
in the FIFA World Ranking, currently at number 26.
A few seconds after the final whistle Lars came to speak to the
awaiting press, downplaying his role in the team’s success: “We
have some very good footballers, but it’s hard team work which
has got us to where we are now. I’m just part of a great group of
people along with Heimir [Hallgrímsson, his right-hand man and
co-manager since 2013]. It’s no fairytale.” And then he walked off
to a live television interview, his first of a series of interviews in
the days following the game.
The day after, The Guardian published an interview with Lars,
whom they called “possibly the most understated manager in
the history of the game.” In the interview he indicated that his
achievement with the Icelandic team was the highlight of his
career. “It was big to qualify with Sweden, but this is extra special.
People are proud here and you can feel that proudness. I say that
from the bottom of my heart. Yes, I am struggling to find words
to describe this.”
BY PÁLL STEFÁNSSON.