There has, says Heimir Hallgrimsson, been “a little bit of a hangover” since Iceland’s Euro 2016 exploits when, having qualified for the tournament for the first time, they produced a “fairytale” by reaching the quarter-finals, drawing with the eventual winners Portugal and beating England along the way.
Weariness, he reckons, has been a factor for a group of players more used to spending their summers relaxing on beaches than inspiring thunderclaps at major international tournaments.
“It was the first time for the players that they didn’t get their summer holidays so everything was new,” said the manager, speaking at the Aviva Stadium where his squad was having its final training session before Tuesday’s friendly against Ireland .
“Players like [Cristiano] Ronaldo and those guys who do it regularly, who play in Champions League finals, who go to every major tournament with their national team, they’re used to it, so it’s pretty tough when you do it for the first time. You’re not physically ready when you restart. And we’ve been suffering,” he said.
“The players have been more injured this season than ever before. Iceland has probably been the easiest to analyse in terms of our starting 11, but we’ve never been able to play the same 11 in this qualifying campaign. There’ve been a lot of injuries and you’d guess that’s because of the finals, because they didn’t get their normal holidays like they’ve done before. But it can also be about mental tiredness.”
Summer break
Captain Aron Gunnarsson, who plays his football with Cardiff City in the English Championship, also conceded that a shortened summer break had had its effect, but, with a smile, said he would “do it all again to have a summer like that”. “We’re still hungry for more success – and there’s plenty more to give,” he said.
And hangover or not, Iceland have had a solid enough start to their World Cup qualifying campaign, 10 points from five games leaving them second in their group behind Croatia, their last outing producing a 2-1 win in Kosovo last Friday.
So, no question of the players resting on their laurels and dining out on Euro 2016 – qualifying for Russia next year is everything.
“We talked about this before,” said Hallgrimsson. “One of our favourite sayings is ‘success is not a destination, it is a continuous journey to the right direction’.”
Hallgrimsson – he was manager of Iceland’s IBV when they lost to St Patrick’s Athletic in the Europa League back in 2011 – will have to make changes to his starting line-up on Tuesday, with Arnor Traustason (Rapid Vienna), Emil Hallfredsson (Udinese) and Gylfi Sigurdsson (Swansea City) all returning to their clubs after playing against Kosovo. However, he is hopeful of a useful encounter that will serve his team well ahead of their key qualifier at home to Croatia in June.
Good preparation
“Knowing the Irish, it’s always going to be a competitive game. And that’s good because our game against Croatia will be a tough, competitive game too, so this match is good preparation for us.
“We have used friendlies to see the players who didn’t start in the competitive games, and we will definitely continue that in some sense at least. But we have to be careful, we can’t only play inexperienced players. It will be a tough match, it won’t be a passing friendly game, there will definitely be battles everywhere, but I hope the players will go carefully in what they do.”
On that note, Gunnarsson sent his best wishes to Seamus Coleman. “I just saw a picture, it was horrible. I wish him all the best in his recovery. It’s always a shame when you see a player getting injured like that. I didn’t want to watch the video, it looked horrendous.”
