Last update 13 November, 2013 por Julio Muñoz
It is a small state, apenas 331.000 habitantes, away from any other European country for more than 900 kilometers of sea (the distance that separates you from Scotland or Norway, although the Faroe Islands are 420 kilometres). A country, menudo, but also new, well it was in 1944 Denmark when he recognized its independence. A place where it is cold, much, so much so that the snow makes an appearance more than eight months a year in the interior, although not on the southern coast of the country, where the humid Atlantic current prevents its arrival.
An icy location where babies are taken to sleep on the street so they can get used to the cold with which they will later have to deal with in their adult stage. Where the tundra is the protagonist, as well as glaciers and lakes (who occupy the 15% Of the territory). Where the economy rises after the famous bank collapse of 2008; where handball prevails over any other sport; where each inhabitant has a car and a half on average to get around; where there is also 103 airports and the Internet anywhere you walk, remote as it is. A place, en definitiva, escondido, volcanic in character but in vogue.
It's fashionable, because football is giving talk. It is one step away (the one of the play-off against Croatia) de jugar un Mundial. Big words, for a team that has never played in a World Cup, not even, a Euro Cup. It's like imagine Iceland, and it is a team that far from being a cinderella is a revelation in the world of football.
A scoring team with a lot of goals, happy game and that has been able to pass second in the group after Switzerland after winning rivals like Norway, Slovenia and even tie to 4 with the Helvetians. Able to make France suffer in a friendly (3-2) o to Portugal (5-3), Iceland is lucky to have an extraordinary generation of footballers who are taking it to the covers of the most prestigious football newspapers.
Aron Gunnarsson (24 years) is the big star, el capitán, a good winger who can play midfield quite regularly and with projection that plays for Cardiff. Together with him, there's more and maybe, mejor. Alfred Finnbogason (24 years too) he is the scorer. The man who does not stop scoring goals in the Heerenveen anyway. An area predator not without a goal that will soon make the leap.
Kolbeinn Sigþórsson con 23 is another of the hopes. Belonging to Ajax is another striker with great mobility and goal, without underestimating dribbling and knowing how to define as the great battering rams. Gylfi Sigurðsson is one of the pearls of the new Tottenham. Three goals in six games place him as a player with arrival and excellent control of the ball.
Por supuesto, then there is the eternal Eid Smári Guðjohnsen (who will play in his day at Barcelona and Chelsea) and others 21 more men playing outside Iceland. a set, en definitiva, balanced, where you combine youth with experience that looks very good. Croatia is the acid test, we will see where they arrive. Possibly far, enough to go next summer to the other end of the world: Brazil.
