Arrogance is sometimes celebrated within football and we’ve got no problem with it. Take a look at Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Eric Cantona, Jose Mourinho – there’s a sense of romanticized arrogance about them. People go bonkers over it, journalists and reporters love it.
But Cristiano Ronaldo’s statement after Portugal’s 1-1 draw against Iceland wasn’t about arrogance. It was Ronaldo being a classic sore loser. It was Ronaldo being swallowed by the depth of his failures on the international stage. His victim? The brilliant Icelandic players.
“I thought they’d won the Euros the way they celebrated at the end, it was unbelievable. When they don’t try to play and just defend, defend, defend, this in my opinion shows a small mentality and are not going to do anything in the competition,” Ronaldo was quoted as saying, after the match.
Too bad, Ronaldo. The only thing small about Iceland is its geographical size. Everything else about them and their incredible national football team, is anything other than small. Bear in mind that they qualified on merit from a group that included Turkey, Czech Republic and even the mighty Dutch – whom they defeated on two separate occasions. How’s that for small mentality?
This is a country that barely has 323,000 people as opposed to Portugal’s 10.46 million people. Think about the size of talent pool available for the Icelandic national football team to tap into? There are about 900 football clubs in Portugal (Professional + Semi-Pro), while Iceland houses merely 74 football clubs across three levels.
But you know what’s brilliant? This was never an excuse. Four years ago, Iceland were ranked 133rd in the world, not too far off from Malaysia, where football is more often than not a tool of sheer comedy. But under the clinical tutelage of Lars Lagerback, they’ve climbed up the ladder impeccably. When I say clinical tutelage, I mean Lars Lagerback merely needed to fine tune and bring out the best from a system and attitude that was destined for progress.
In fact, the ‘Icelandic Mentality’ seems to be a keyword that’s trending among football scouts in Europe. Back in November 2015, Jóhann Ólafur Sigurðsson wrote a brilliant piece on TheseFootballTimes.co, where he specifically analysed the mentality of footballers that are being produced in Iceland and why they’re so highly coveted these days. The article featured a brilliant quote from Henning Berg, manager of Polish club, Legia Warsaw.
“Their mentality is the first thing you notice,” he said. “They are always trying their best, train very hard and are mentally strong. They handle stress very well and are extremely professional,” Henning said.
His claims were then validated by a well-entrenched Icelandic sociologist, Dr. Viðar Halldórsson. “It is a complicated interplay between customs, culture, environment, groups and individuals. Icelandic sports people are ruled more by intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic according to research,” he added.
It’s the sort of mentality that’s highly prevalent among underdogs that scale their way to success. It involves acceptance of their small stature, but more importantly, it also involves the establishment of willpower to battle through these structural obstacles. That willpower has led to the establishment of multiple football hangers within the country. It has led to the prioritization of structured youth development systems within the country.
As it stands, Iceland has approximately 600 qualified coaches, which makes it one coach per 825 people. Every single one of them gets paid professionally, meaning none of them are part-time coaches. There are indoor football facilities all over the country, providing easy access for kids to regularly play, besides also providing the opportunities for schools to also groom potential footballers. Also, 7% of the population regularly attend local football matches – which is the highest among all European nations.
“Part of the real success here even at the top-level is they have very educated coaches starting at five or six years of age. The system is very good. You can see they are really pushing on the development of talented players at the clubs. If you look at our squad for the Euros, and look at the younger players I would definitely say these are well educated,” Lagerback told Guardian.
So it’s no real surprise that Iceland became the smallest nation to qualify for the European Championship. But it was never a walk in the park, was it? They narrowly missed out on the 2014 World Cup, after losing to Croatia in the play-offs. Two years later, they were hellbent on preventing a repeat of that famous heartbreak and they did so in style, finishing ahead of Turkey and Netherlands in their group.
Last night though, was the pinnacle of their efforts. Up against a side that’s lead by Cristiano Ronaldo, the Icelandic lads were visibly underdogs. Every betting expert was handing out odds against them. It was neatly and convincingly stacked against them, especially after Portugal took the lead. But the Lagerback’s men pulled off a stunning comeback to take one point off a European powerhouse.
So Ronaldo, you were only right about one thing last night. Iceland and ‘small’ do go hand in hand. But it has nothing to do with mentality. Absolutely nothing. Oh and just for the record, for a nation that was ranked 133rd in the world not so long ago, they sure as hell deserved to celebrate.
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