Iceland World Cup 2018

Iceland World Cup 2018

Iceland continue to grow as a footballing nation, following up their Euro 2016 heroics by qualifying for the World Cup finals for the first time in their history. 

World Cup History

Basically, Iceland have no history at the World Cup whatsoever. Up until 1974, they had only ever entered the qualification process once and lost all four games that they played. Since 1974, they have entered the qualifying rounds for every World Cup and have slowly improved as a team. In Russia, they will be appearing at the World Cup finals for the first time ever.

How they qualified

Iceland were handed what appeared to be an extremely difficult draw for the Qualifying process. In Group I of the UEFA qualifying with them were Croatia, who had prevented them qualifying for the 2014 tournament in a play-off, Turkey, Ukraine, Finland, and Kosovo.

Many critics tipped them to finish third or fourth in that group, despite the fact they had beaten England and Austria, as well as drawing with eventual champions Portugal at Euro 2016. That experience must have given the team a huge boost, as they started off their World Cup qualifying campaign with a fantastic away draw at Ukraine and wins over Finland and Turkey.

They did then suffer a defeat to group favourites Croatia, but they bounced back well and won five of their last six matches to finish two points clear at the top of the group. Their other defeat came away to Finland but that proved to be irrelevant as Iceland dug deep on several occasions to book their place in Russia.

Coach/Manager

Heimir Hallgrímsson is a dentist from a small town called Vestmannaeyjar, with a population of just over 4,000 people, who has led the Iceland national team to some of their most memorable performances.

Hallgrimsson became assistant to Lars Lagerback in 2013, and was part of the coaching staff that saw Iceland lose out in a play-off for a place at the 2014 World Cup to Croatia. Shortly after, Lagerback and Hallgrimsson became joint managers and together they led the team to their first ever major tournament at Euro 2016.

After that amazing run to the Quarter Final, Lagerback moved on to pastures new and Hallgrimsson became sole manager. Since then, he has led the team to ten victories from seventeen matches and qualified them for their first ever World Cup finals tournament.

Star Players

Several Iceland squad members are instantly recognisable to English football fans, and not just because of that embarrassing defeat at Euro 2016. Gylfi Sigurdsson moved to England to join Reading at the age of sixteen and is currently at Everton, after spells in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur and Swansea City.

Sigurdsson is perhaps the star of the Iceland team, with fantastic skill and trickery, as well as a brilliant strike making him a dangerous attacking player regardless of the opposition. Captain Aron Gunnarsson is another player who has been playing in England for many years. He has been at Cardiff City since 2011, and was at Coventry City for three years before that. While Iceland do not have the individual stars that some nations have, they have a brilliant team spirit and work ethic which has seen them exceed expectations on several occasions.

Iceland World Cup 2018: Assessing Their Chances & Odds

Fans, players, and coaching staff will be hoping that Iceland can repeat their Euro 2016 performances and get to the latter stages of this tournament, but unfortunately it looks like it will be a battle to avoid finishing bottom of the group.

They have been drawn against Argentina, Nigeria, and Croatia in what is an extremely difficult group for the World Cup debutants. Argentina will probably top the group with ease, and it’s likely that Croatia and Nigeria will prove to be too strong for Iceland at a major tournament. Yes, they did beat Croatia in qualifying and they are ranked higher than Nigeria in the FIFA rankings, but both of those sides have a better pedigree and more experience when it comes to playing at major tournaments. Most bookmakers have Iceland priced as 12/1 outsiders to win the group, and 5/2 to make it through to the next round.

Our Iceland World Cup Prediction

Iceland performed a minor miracle at Euro 2016, but it would take more than that to even get through the group stage at this World Cup. Argentina, Croatia, and Nigeria will all fancy their chances of picking up victories over the debut making Iceland team, and it will be a struggle for the debutants to pick up even a point. Our prediction is a harsh learning curve for Iceland, and a group stage exit, which will improve them for the experience of playing at a World Cup finals tournament.