Dramatic underdog stories are nothing new to the soccer world. Nearly every tournament provides a Cinderella story, such as Leicester City winning this past seasons’ English Premier League at the club level to Greece winning the 2004 UEFA European Championship on the international stage.
However, the most recent sensational soccer tale occurred at the 2016 UEFA Euro Championships, in which Iceland, a country with a population smaller than the city of Raleigh, managed to reach the tournament’s quarterfinal round.
In its first-ever international soccer tournament, the team now vied on the same stage as reigning World Cup champions, Germany. Drawn into a challenging group featuring Portugal, Hungary and Austria, expectations for the Nordic nation were low.
Iceland’s journey in the Euros began modestly enough. In its first match, Iceland played back-to-the-wall defense and scraped out a one-point draw against a fast-paced Portugal side.
Despite only earning a 1-1 draw, Iceland had already surpassed expectations. Both fans and players were visibly excited.
After the match, Cristiano Ronaldo even criticized the team’s jubilant mood. The Portuguese forward didn’t expect much from the Nordic nation.
“I thought they’d won the Euros the way they celebrated at the end,” Ronaldo said, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mirror. “When they don’t try to play and just defend, defend, defend, this in my opinion shows a small mentality and they are not going to do anything in the competition.”
Iceland’s second group match, against Hungary, somewhat mirrored its first. After 90 minutes, the Icelandic team played to another 1-1 draw. Despite Iceland leading the game for most of the way, Hungary’s constant pressure paid off in the 88th minute, when Iceland gave up an own goal.
It wasn’t until Iceland’s last group stage match that it seized its first-ever international tournament victory.
In the dying moments of its match against Austria, the score was 1-1. It appeared Iceland was approaching its third consecutive draw and elimination from the tournament. However, deep into stoppage time, fortune changed.
In the 94th minute, midfielder Arnor Traustason finished a counter attack play propelling his nation into the knockout rounds of the competition.
Within a matter of seconds, Iceland had transformed from a mediocre European team to the talk of the tournament.
While many felt sure this was merely luck and Iceland wouldn’t make it any further than the Round of 16, the fairy tale didn’t end there. In the first knockout round, Iceland produced one of the greatest upsets in Euro-tournament history, overcoming an early 1-0 deficit to defeat England 2-1.
Iceland took down an English side sprinkled with world class EPL talent. After this match, the entire soccer world began to take note of the story unfolding.
Despite early success, the quarterfinal matchup featured the formidable presence of France, two-time Euro Champions and this year’s tournament host. To advance, Iceland would have to knock out France on its home ground.
The highly anticipated match on July 3 was rather lopsided in the beginning as France dominated a seemingly stage-frightened Iceland. By halftime the scoreline read 4-0.
The game was beginning to resemble Germany’s 7-1 rout of Brazil in the 2014 World Cup semifinals, and announcers were beginning to discuss the possibility of the game ending in one of the biggest blowouts the tournament has featured in a while.
However, as the second half kicked off, Iceland wouldn’t lay down. The team made a few halftime substitutions and pushed on even harder than before. Iceland’s efforts were rewarded. Eleven minutes after the break, Iceland pulled one back as Kolbeinn Sigborsson finished a beautiful curling cross into the bottom right corner.
Despite temporarily trimming the deficit to three, France immediately responded back just moments later with a goal of its own.
As the scoreline read 5-1 in favor of France, Iceland continued to push on, playing as if they were in a deadlock fighting for the winning goal. The Icelandic fans also continued to chant and remained behind their side just as they had all tournament.
It wasn’t long until the Nordic side snatched a second goal back to decrease the deficit back to three. This time, the goal was a header from forward Birkir Bjarnason.
Throughout the remainder of the game, Iceland dominated a worn-out France and created an abundance of goal scoring opportunities. Despite a final score of 5-2, Iceland outscored France 2-1 in the second half and dominated in every arena ranging from possession to goal-scoring opportunities.
It’s often argued that true quality and character are revealed during less favorable circumstances. Under circumstances where most teams would’ve started to play lethargically, Iceland pushed harder. Where most fans would’ve long deserted the stadium, Iceland’s chants hardly died down.
In the eyes of many spectators, this quality is largely what carried the side so deep into the tournament — the balance of relentlessness, aggression and love for the simple moment itself.
Iceland’s deep tournament run reminded us of just one reason why “the beautiful game” is so beautiful: the unpredictability. The power of the mind of a team’s players and fans should not be underestimated.
Next, the relatively young Icelandic side will try its hand at qualifying for the 2018 World Cup tournament. With a recipe of young talent to develop and a positive attitude, more successes are sure to come for Iceland soccer.
