Cybereagles

Bigpokey24 wrote:wow..kudos to them oooo

icee wrote:Lagerback!

Iceland became the smallest nation to progress to a World Cup after beating Kosovo to win their qualifying group for Russia 2018.

The Euro 2016 quarter-finalists, who knocked out England in the last 16, have a population of about 335,000.

They are the only country to qualify for a World Cup with a population of fewer than one million.

Everton's Gylfi Sigurdsson and Burnley's Johann Gudmundsson got the goals on Monday evening.

Sigurdsson settled his side's nerves with a neat finish just before half-time then turned provider for Gudmundsson to ensure victory with a close-range strike.

Iceland have won seven of their 10 Group I games in World Cup qualifying.

icee wrote:Lagerback!

A generation of 'indoor kids'

Gudjohnsen owed his progression beyond the normal bounds of Icelandic football to his father Arnor's career in Europe.

The seven years Gudjohnsen Sr spent at Belgian side Anderlecht allowed the young Eidur to develop away from the harsh winter climate and mountainous terrain of his homeland, where football outside the four- or five-month summer period meant small-sided games on hard indoor floors.


3G pitches inside heated indoor domes ensure football can be played all year round in Iceland
But much like the prospective plans put forward by an English Football Association commission in October 2014, Iceland's football association (KSI) has overseen massive investment in changing that in the past 15 years.

There are now 30 full-size all-weather pitches, seven of which are indoors, and almost 150 smaller artificial arenas that ensure youngsters at grassroots can continue to play football in winter, often inside indoor dome structures.

It is why the current crop of players, many of whom made history by qualifying for the European Under-21 Championship in 2011 - Iceland's first foray into any major international tournament - have been labelled "the indoor kids".

"For this nation, the dome pitches were a revelation," Heimir Hallgrimsson, the national team's joint head coach, told BBC Sport. "Every village wanted an artificial pitch, and there is now one close to almost every school in Iceland.

"These guys now with us in the national team were brought up on artificial pitches. Many would have had youth coaching in an indoor dome. They could go out if the weather was good, but they always had good facilities to train."

Qualified coaches at every level

Despite Iceland having no professional club sides, there is an extraordinarily high number of qualified coaches in the country, with 639 people holding a Uefa B licence, according to recent KSI statistics.
It means even youngsters living in the tiniest provincial fishing village in Iceland can benefit from a state-of-the-art, all-weather pitch and a trained coach.


Hallgrimsson, 48, spent his entire playing career in Iceland and balances his coaching commitments with part-time work as a dentist, but he recognises the appeal of the coaching profession for Icelanders.

"Every town or village in Iceland wants to have a good football team for the parents and for the kids, and it is easy to train as a Uefa A or B licence coach here," he noted.

"I took my Pro Licence in England and I looked around. Of course it is a professional set-up for the big clubs there, but it's mostly parents or some guy who takes over and works with the kids who play on Sunday.

"I think that's the difference. We teach our kids from a young age and we give them good sessions with trained coaches, so that's why we get a lot of young players going abroad early, at 17, 18, 19, which they have to do to continue their development professionally."

icee wrote:Lagerback!

Gotti wrote:

icee wrote:Lagerback!

Bros, the last that Lagerback was seen in the 2018 WCQs was looking befuddled on the sidelines as his Norway team got ripped apart 0-6 by Germany.

oloye wrote:

Gotti wrote:

icee wrote:Lagerback!

Bros, the last that Lagerback was seen in the 2018 WCQs was looking befuddled on the sidelines as his Norway team got ripped apart 0-6 by Germany.

This cheered me up

Undertaker wrote:

Bigpokey24 wrote:wow..kudos to them oooo

300,000 people? FIFA need to go there and ask them how they are doing it. First Euro 2016 and now Russia 2018? England must be praying now not to end up in their group.

danfo driver wrote:

oloye wrote:

Gotti wrote:

icee wrote:Lagerback!

Bros, the last that Lagerback was seen in the 2018 WCQs was looking befuddled on the sidelines as his Norway team got ripped apart 0-6 by Germany.

This cheered me up

Gotti na wicked man!


I just sent Lagerback a facebook message. Hopefully he will remember me from when I sent him a series of facebook messages in 2010

Lager-back wrote:

danfo driver wrote:

oloye wrote:

Gotti wrote:

icee wrote:Lagerback!

Bros, the last that Lagerback was seen in the 2018 WCQs was looking befuddled on the sidelines as his Norway team got ripped apart 0-6 by Germany.

This cheered me up

Gotti na wicked man!


I just sent Lagerback a facebook message. Hopefully he will remember me from when I sent him a series of facebook messages in 2010

I didnt get any message yet.