A late winning goal. A spot in the knockout stage. The prospect of playing in the round-of-16 against England.
It just does not get better for tiny Iceland.
Delivering the feel-good story of UEFA Euro 2016, the smallest nation ever to compete at the tournament beat Austria 2-1 on Wednesday to advance from Group F.
Photo: Reuters
The reward from the greatest day in Iceland’s soccer history: a match against their heroes from England in Nice, France, on Monday.
“Icelanders know everything about English football,” Iceland coach Heimir Hallgrimsson said. “We are English football crazy.”
Arnor Ingvi Traustason clinched the win for Iceland in the fourth minute of stoppage-time, finishing off a counterattack as the Austrians piled forward in search of a goal that would have earned them a place in the round-of-16 at the expense of their opponents.
After bundling the ball into the net in the last play of the game, Traustason found himself buried under a heap of Iceland players, substitutes and officials who had sprinted onto the field to celebrate. The whole squad then ran across the field to jump up and down in front of their jubilant fans.
“It is like having your family at the game,” Iceland defender Kari Arnason said of the team’s 10,000 supporters. “I know probably 50 percent of our crowd, or recognize them.”
Iceland finished in second place in the group, above Portugal and unbeaten with five points. Austria were eliminated in last place, failing to live up to their billing in France.
“Maybe the expectations have been too high,” Austria coach Marcel Koller said.
Iceland’s victory at the Stade de France did not come easy. The team spent much of the game on the defensive after striker Jon Dadi Bodvarsson gave Iceland the lead in the 18th minute, pouncing on a flick-on from Arnason at a throw-in and wrong-footing goalkeeper Robert Almer with an angled shot.
Austria defender Aleksandar Dragovic struck the post with a penalty in the 37th minute after David Alaba was tugged back, and Iceland repelled a succession of attacks before Alessandro Schoepf equalized in the 60th minute.
For the final 30 minutes, Austria were camped in the Iceland half, with Arnason standing out for Iceland with two crucial blocks off goal-bound shots.
“It was like an Icelandic wall,” Koller said. “There was always a body in the way.”
Austria head home as one of the disappointments of Euro 2016. As does Alaba.
Much was expected of the Bayern Munich defender, Austria’s undisputed star, but he started the final two games out of position in the attacking playmaker role and it clearly did not suit him.
At times against Iceland, he was deployed — somewhat bizarrely — as a “false nine,” before he dropped deeper for the second half. He set up Schoepf for his goal and played much better.
It could all have been so different had Dragovic converted his penalty. Instead, it clipped the outside of the post. Dragovic dropped to his knees, covering his face with his jersey.
No such despair for Iceland.
Hallgrimsson even said, jokingly, that Iceland might change the date of its national holiday — June 17 — to commemorate its soccer team’s greatest feat.
“That is what it means to us,” he said.
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