Iceland made football history three days ago, qualified for the World Cup, after reaching the quarter-finals of the European Championship last year.
A country with slightly more than 300 inhabitants, which not so long ago was an absolute outsider on the world football scene, has a team that breaks all boundaries.
The Icelandic selection lacks one player to be even better - Aron Johansson.
He is also the hero of this unusual story, which shows how one wrong decision can affect the life of an athlete.
Namely, Johansson is an Icelander, who was born in the USA, where he started his career, but quickly moved to his homeland. Along with Gylfi Sigurðsson and Birkir Bjarnason, he was the most talented player in Icelandic football, a member of the youth national team.
His journey went from Iceland, through the Danish Aarhus, to the Dutch AZ Alkmaar.
Arriving in the Dutch league, he drew the attention of Jürgen Klinsman, the then USA coach, who offered him a place in the national team, given that he also had American citizenship.
And then 22-year-old Johansson made the worst decision of his life...
"I voted, because I believe that I will play with the USA selection at the World Cup," said Johansson at the time.
Nor did he make the American team for the World Cup in Brazil, and he only regretted it when he watched the Icelandic team at the European Championship last year.
Next year, instead of being on the field, he will watch the World Cup in Russia on TV screens, and the Icelanders ironically state that he could also join numerous fan groups, which will cheer on the national team from the stands.
It was as if the wrong decision on the selection of the national team affected his club career as well.
He moved from AZ to Werder in 2015, for 6,5 million euros, but numerous minor injuries prevented him from showing his potential, so in three seasons he made only 19 appearances in the Bundesliga, scoring three goals.
Considering that Iceland does not have a large selection of players, a bad form would not affect his selection in the national team.
His choice of the national team, however, was wrong...
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