Iceland completed another football miracle last night, qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in history.
For the second time in a row, the Icelanders will play in a major competition, after reaching the quarter-finals of the European Championship last year.
With an easy 2:0 victory over Kosovo, they secured the World Cup, in competition with Croatia and Ukraine.
"We will be a tough rival for everyone, but we will be humble. This is a characteristic of Icelanders. We are not the best in the world, but we have earned the right to be among the best. We represent not only our country, but also Europe. We are proud of that", said Heimir Halgrimson, coach of Iceland.
Budućnosti coach Dragan Kažić worked with Halgrimson for two years in the Icelandic club Vestmanji. The two went from being colleagues in the coaching staff to becoming friends.
Kazić spent seven years in Iceland and in Icelandic football. The sensational success of the small nation is the result of their innate persistence and systematic work.
"They are talented, but they have achieved a lot because they are very persistent. Their results are more the result of persistence and hard work, than dry talent," Kažić points out.
What the Icelanders have realized while developing football is that they simply cannot drop any young player. There are so few of them that they are all important, Kažić points out.
"They are great workers, eager to prove themselves, but the most important thing is that they take care of every boy or girl who is involved, not only in football, but in sports in general. This system of monitoring and development of young football players and athletes is very important and brilliantly set up", said Kažić.
The system of competition in younger selections is also specific and subordinate to it.
"Those in the younger teams have A, B and C selections of the same age. Why? To give everyone a chance. In our country, for example, there are approximately 18 players in the teams, of which 14-15 have significant playing time. In Iceland, everyone gets the same chance, they have the satisfaction of training and working hard," says Kažić.
The most talented ones, however, have a special program, but not in Iceland...
"Boys, between the ages of 12 and 16, who are more talented than others and show a sense of the game, go abroad, where they improve, their technical and tactical potential is upgraded. Lately, it is, most often, the Netherlands. Also, in the first teams of Icelandic clubs, 17-18-year-old players get a chance," notes Kažić.
The rise of Icelandic football has been going on for five or six years. By qualifying for EURO 2016 and World Cup 2018, it was forgotten that the Icelanders also played in the playoffs for the World Cup in Brazil 2014.
"Everything started on an upward trajectory when Lars Lagerbek took over the selection, who put things in order. I had the opportunity to talk with him, he had a long-term plan, he was ready to 'sacrifice' one cycle in order to prepare the team for the next. With him, Iceland immediately reached the barrage for Brazil, and then continued to grow...".
Iceland's success did not come by chance, not even overnight. Younger selections are more often in the finals of major competitions, and selections under the age of 21, which are the base for the senior team, had notable performances at European championships.
"In the first generation, there were Gylfi Sigurdsson and Kolbein Sigtorsson, as leaders, then another talented team followed, and now the senior team relies on those players. Whether it is a combination of circumstances, or the result of quality work, above all in foreign clubs - we will see, but Iceland is definitely not a story for one summer", said Kažić.
The Icelanders are going to Russia as debutants, but also as an attraction - everyone can't wait to hear the roar from the stands and the cheering that captivated the world again...
"They are followed by 30 thousand people, that is, 10 percent of the population, which is proof of their love for football, but also of the population's financial power. The whole country is enjoying these moments, they are enjoying the attention of the world public, it will be very interesting to watch them at the World Cup - both on the field and in the stands", Kažić concluded.
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