Sunday, June 19, 2016 2:52:26 PM
Football, fire and ice: the inside story of Iceland’s remarkable rise
Iceland travel Euro 2016 as the smallest nation ever to reach a major tournament – not bad going for a lump of volcanic
rock halfway to the Arctic with a population the size of Lewisham. This is the tale of their stunning journey
by Barney Ronay in Reykjavik
Thursday 9 June 2016 00.04 AEST
[...]
And now they’ve got football, too. Ranked 133 in the world four years ago, the national team have risen 100 places under Lars Lagerback, progress given a compelling narrative shape by the money and care poured into the grassroots during the pre-bust years when the country had more cash than it knew how to spend. This summer Iceland will travel to France as the smallest nation ever to reach a major tournament, not bad going for a lump of volcanic rock halfway to the Arctic with a population the size of the London borough of Lewisham.
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[...]
"Part of the real success here is they have very educated coaches starting at five or six years of age"
They say that when Cristiano Ronaldo came here with Portugal he tried to commandeer a whole room to himself. Given this would have cut the capacity in half and forced his team-mates to change in the corridor, his request was politely declined. Iceland doesn’t really do VIP rooms. This is a stubbornly egalitarian society. Titles and honorifics are frowned upon. Everyone is on first-name terms. Sorry Cristiano, old bean.
Ronaldo didn’t seem too disturbed, spanking in a 40-yard free-kick three minutes into a game Portugal won at a stroll. That was six years ago, 12 months before the appointment of Lagerback, year zero for the Icelandic qualification miracle. Not that Iceland’s thrillingly inscrutable Swedish manager really wants to talk about miracles.
Instead he coughs and mutters and changes the subject. This is probably all for the best. After qualification, one newspaper described Iceland’s manager, rather hopefully, as “a liberator of the volcanic island”. Lagerback is adored in Iceland. But volcanic liberation has never really been his bag.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/08/iceland-stunning-rise-euro-2016-gylfi-sigurdsson-lars-lagerback
Coaches, facilities, a sound and enthusiastic effort with the young .. stories of new beginnings are the best .. a long, interesting read
Iceland travel Euro 2016 as the smallest nation ever to reach a major tournament – not bad going for a lump of volcanic
rock halfway to the Arctic with a population the size of Lewisham. This is the tale of their stunning journey
by Barney Ronay in Reykjavik
Thursday 9 June 2016 00.04 AEST
[...]
And now they’ve got football, too. Ranked 133 in the world four years ago, the national team have risen 100 places under Lars Lagerback, progress given a compelling narrative shape by the money and care poured into the grassroots during the pre-bust years when the country had more cash than it knew how to spend. This summer Iceland will travel to France as the smallest nation ever to reach a major tournament, not bad going for a lump of volcanic rock halfway to the Arctic with a population the size of the London borough of Lewisham.
[...]
[...]
"Part of the real success here is they have very educated coaches starting at five or six years of age"
They say that when Cristiano Ronaldo came here with Portugal he tried to commandeer a whole room to himself. Given this would have cut the capacity in half and forced his team-mates to change in the corridor, his request was politely declined. Iceland doesn’t really do VIP rooms. This is a stubbornly egalitarian society. Titles and honorifics are frowned upon. Everyone is on first-name terms. Sorry Cristiano, old bean.
Ronaldo didn’t seem too disturbed, spanking in a 40-yard free-kick three minutes into a game Portugal won at a stroll. That was six years ago, 12 months before the appointment of Lagerback, year zero for the Icelandic qualification miracle. Not that Iceland’s thrillingly inscrutable Swedish manager really wants to talk about miracles.
Instead he coughs and mutters and changes the subject. This is probably all for the best. After qualification, one newspaper described Iceland’s manager, rather hopefully, as “a liberator of the volcanic island”. Lagerback is adored in Iceland. But volcanic liberation has never really been his bag.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/08/iceland-stunning-rise-euro-2016-gylfi-sigurdsson-lars-lagerback
Coaches, facilities, a sound and enthusiastic effort with the young .. stories of new beginnings are the best .. a long, interesting read
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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