Are Iceland not getting the credit they deserve?
Despite their lowly FIFA ranking, which really counts for nothing, they've only lost two competitive games in the past 2 years and in that time they've beaten the likes of The Netherlands (twice), Turkey, England, Austria and Czech Republic, qualified second in their group for Euro 2016 and have not lost a game since they arrived in France.
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Iceland has been lauded for years
No, not really.
>Iceland used to be our cumbucket in qualifications, always pinned as easy win
>Iceland is strong now
>Iceland is our WC Quali group again
>Iceland wants revenge for years of bullying
I don't like this
The English have typically gone overboard with their "worst defeat in history" histrionics.
Iceland are decent despite being small.
Your "press" was probably distracted with the "Premier League", which now ranks below the Bundesliga.
I had them as a dark horse since qualifying.
It's a shame, they were actually playing good football then, but they went full Greece
It's not just the fact they were beaten by Iceland that qualifies as the worst defeat, it's the manner in which they were. Their bottle completely went after the second goal and they never recovered.
>their lowly FIFA ranking
I remember looking that up and it wasn't even half-bad.
On the other hand: Don't talk the opponent "you" lost to big simply to make "your" defeat feel less bad.
Normally there should have been no fucking way for England to lose that one.
I'm not in England, you fucking silly cuckoofag.
The fact is, you're wrong. Iceland weren't tipped to even qualify for the Euros and they came into this tournament with only Northern Ireland having bigger odds of winning.
I'm not English. I'm Scottish, and yes; I'm aware we're also shit and didn't qualify, but try debating the topic rather than the man. Do you think you can do that?
In football there are few matches with "no fucking way" for one team to lose.
Upsets happen all the time, and Iceland have great international form. It was always going to be tough for England, even though they were favourites.
FIFA ratings are shit anyay and Belgium and Swizerland a perfect exemple of why. I swear everybody here said the swiss would be an important team and the belgians were favourites on the same level as Germany or Italy. If you keep playing against crappy teams that are one notch above amateur level, your rating will end up being completely inflated because you keep winning with high scores, but when facing any competitive team, you get steamrolled.
Good achievement by them. They are a very well organized team and don't beat themselves
Also speaks volumes to how much the quality of play in international soccer has gone downhill since the last Euro
They would have never been able to do this in any other previous Euro
Desu I remember them being kinda hyped after they almost qualified for the last world cup.
i think the problem is that most people barely follow their own country's qualification campaign, let alone those of other countries or the whole qualification process.
since this was the first euro with 24 teams the focus of the media before the tournament was on all the "small" nations qualifiying through the play-offs between the teams in 3rd place. this meant that people just assumed that iceland (and wales) was one of those teams
Belgium aren't a bad team though. They sorely missed leadership with Kompany, and last night were playing a second-string defence.
Sure, their FIFA ranking might be inflated, but for all Belgium's flaws, this is by far and away the best Belgium side any of us have ever seen.
Yes, but that sure doesn't make them favourites for a tournament that has several teams with a few world cups under their belts.
Issues with pacing or leadership are part of what make a good team, not a way to explain away some poor performances. France was horrible in 2010 for those reasons, to some extent Portugal has some problems of that order too.
Pretty good post.
this
>Yes, but that sure doesn't make them favourites for a tournament that has several teams with a few world cups under their belts.
They weren't favourites, and the odds aren't determined by some world cup won 10/20/30 years ago. Belgium went into the competition in good form, topping their quali group and having only lost a single competitive game since WC 2014
>this kraut backing himself up
I love Ieland's football. It's honest with no retarded diving and crying antics.
>Iceland are the smallest nation to qualify for a major tournament. The country's population is estimated to be around 330,000 - that's smaller than the city of Leicester. However, like Leicester's football club in the Premier League this season, Iceland are shocking their more illustrious opponents at the European Championship.
So it really is
>the city of Iceland
so many hates when we'll win
Not from me. Quite like the French.
Eh? Iceland players have dived or 'made the most' of small amounts of contact throughout the tournament. It shows they are intelligent football players with good game management.
This whole 'ICELAND R HONEST FOOTBALLERS NOT PAMPERED BABIES GIVE NURSES FOOTBALLERS WAGES AND FOOTBALLERS NURSES WAGES" screams of ignorance and someone with a tiny understanding of Iceland's success.
I want you to lose because you're against Iceland, otherwise it would be nice for the host nation to make it to the final (and lose to Wales).
>Indonesia's population: 250, 000, 000 (757 Icelands)
but why are they still shit?
they have great team spirit, no ego's, a good coach, play very disciplined and deserve to gotten this far
Honestly if you haven't followed Iceland closely since at least the WC qualifiers you shouldn't even talk about football.
Are you happy, Pukki?
It would actually be nice to loose against Island
Pretty sure every time they play whole Europe cheers for them except for the country they play against ofcourse.
All Finns are in a constant state of despair but I enjoy the success of Iceland, Mohammad.
Last day to talk about Iceland! Guess whats next? Another England!
Good, I'm glad you're happy. I get a bit concerned for the Finnbros on here.
>757 Icelands
Damn, that's a lot of Icelands
For the Glory of France who will smash Iceland 18-0!
So yeah, nobody has gives a shit about these scrubs. beat France, then we talk
Iceland overrated. They're not bad, but if England wasn't so fucking shit they wouldn't be here.
Iceland 8-0 France
Actually, tomorrow will be the first time we'll really see how Iceland holds up against a team that isn't total shit.
We're not great, but we're not England or Portugal bad.
butchering Marseillaise edition
Netherlands, Turkey, Portugal, Austria, England and soon France too.
Fully agree with you op. I was gona make a thread like this, don't need to now as you have summed up my feels
Yeah France looked so fucking good against Romania and Albania too.
Actually, tomorrow will be the first time we'll really see how France holds up against a team that isn't total shit.
We're not great, but we're not Romania, Albania or already qualified Switzerland bad.
They're probably juicing
Has anybody thought to test them?
>We're
>that flag
Fuck off.
>Netherlands, Turkey, Portugal, Austria
Who?
juicing doesnt make that much of a difference in football.
also there are random tests after every game
List of football teams better than the Africa of Europe.
>he doesn't know about the Switzersnowman
He's been abroad for years now. /bundes/ regular iirc.
þegiðu
I don't seem them in the 1/4
Because Iceland raped them just like they'll rape your black ass, Mohammad.
Don't worry, they struggled even against us.
England just sucked.
We'll see about that tomorrow night my Sami friend.
Is Gylfi playing against you guys?
It was sensational for them to even qualify
I have no idea desu.
-----------------Hannes (y)
Birkir (y)--Ragnar--Kári (y)----Ari (y)
Jói (y)--Aron Einar(y)--Gylfi(y)--Birkir (y)
-----------Jón Daði-----Kolbeinn(y)
>all those probable suspensions against italy
The gap between top NTs and the rest has really been compressed over the last few years, especially in Europe. Most countries have solid youth systems, a few decent players in top 5 leagues and a good amount of workable players, that might not play on the highest levels but are still relatively competent. Couple that with solid coaching and you get a situation where any NT can beat any other, and where giving less than 100% is certain to lead to a loss.
Iceland are nothing special, they are similar to teams like Romania, Albania, Hungary or Northern Ireland. They've just had more luck than those teams, and their opponents never turned up. Their goal against Portugal was the result of a massive brainfreeze in the Portuguese central defence, they were dominated by Hungary and only drew due to massive Hungarian spaghetti, giving them a penalty. Iceland won against Austria because the coach went full meme with his formation and they only scored their second goal once their opponent pushed everybody forward for a late winner. And Iceland's win against England was largely a result of English incompetence, not of Icelandic brilliance.
Of course, this does not detract from Iceland’s achievements. They are amongst the most compact teams of the tournament, everyone gives 100%, they are without pressure and simply play like they don't give a fuck.
That's what I wanted to know. Gylfi already had a yellow before that though didn't he?
You need two suspensions now to not play or what gives?
Two yellows to get suspension, all yellows nulled after this round.
iceland have had 11 yellows, one for 9 of the starting 11 and 2 for Alfreð Finnbogason
yes
This is why I'm rooting for Wales since the last match, they actually outskilled their opponents instead of taking advantage of their spaghetti dropping.
I like Iceland, they play well, however there is no way they can outskill France. France would have to go full meme for Iceland to win. Unless they manage to survive 120 minutes and go to penalties, it's anyone's game at that point.
>instead of taking advantage of their spaghetti dropping.
But that's exactly what happened last night.
Where are the Icebros?
we in here
we've known they were good for years.
how was the day after the win? did you go to work?
who makes shit like this
retards.
i thought it looked funny though
Ever caught a puffin?
no
but i went hunting ptarmigans once
Do you likes peas?
>FIFA ranking
>counts for nothing
It sure has fucked Italy over the last few tournaments.
Not really.