Hello Trinidad and Tobago fans. Firstly I want to congratulate you on your success and will follow your time in the world cup with great anticipation. The reason Im posting here is because Im from Iceland and tomorrow our two nations will play a friendly.
Reading this board, it turns out that some of you think this will be a walkover for T&T, I for one hope not. Its true Iceland has been in a slump lately but thats about to change with a new manager who has replaced the 2 bufoons before him.
Icelands key players:
Eidur Gudjohnsen (Chelsea) –striker. He is the best player in the team and will be very dangerous in attacks. He’s been used as a midfielder this season at Chelsea but will play as a withdrawn striker tomorrow.
Heidar Helguson (Fulham) – He’s on fire at the moment for Fulham. Has scored 5 premiership goals in his last five games. Unstoppable in the aire.
Gretar Steinsson (AZ Alkmaar) – van Gaal bought him last summer as the replacement for Jan Kromkamp at right back for Alkmaar. He has played in the UEFA Cup this season. van Gaal described him as the most promisng attacking right back in Europe at this moment.
Hermann Hreidarsson (Charlton) – Has been a everpresent in the Charlton defence this season.
Ivar Ingimarsson (Reading) – Only Reading FC player (who are running away with the English Championship) to play every game. Returning back to the national side after having a bust up with the former manager.
Brynjar Gunnarsson (Reading) – Plays for Reading also and has been a major part in their succes this season.
Joey Gudjonsson (Leicester) – Has scored 7 goals this season from midfield, takes great freekicks and has hard shot on him. Returning back to the national side following a bust up with the previous manager.
Emil Hallfredsson (Malmo) – left winger, on loan from Tottenham. Hugely skillful.
Missing is Gunnar Heidar Thorvaldsson, a striker who plays for Halmstad in the Swedish premiership. He was the topscorer over there last season with 16 goals in 16 games. Everton, Celtic, PSV, Hamburg, Marseille and Rangers are all interested.
Our last qualifying campaign was a disaster, with two managers in charge we were awful.
Croatia 10 7 3 0 21 5 24
Sweden 10 8 0 2 30 4 24
Bulgaria 10 4 3 3 17 17 15
Hungary 10 4 2 4 13 14 14
Iceland 10 1 1 8 14 27 4
Malta 10 0 3 7 4 32 3
We managed only 4 points from this group, disaster.
For euro2004 things were a little bit better:
Germany 7 4 3 0 10 4 15
Iceland 7 4 1 2 11 6 13
Scotland 7 3 2 2 11 8 11
Lithuania 7 3 1 3 7 10 10
Faroe Islands 8 0 1 7 7 18 1
These were the standings before the last round but a loss in Germany meant that Scotland beat us to 2nd playoff place.
WC2002 went like this:
Denmark 10 6 4 0 22 6 22 WC2002
Czech Republic 10 6 2 2 20 8 20 Play-off
Bulgaria 10 5 2 3 14 15 17
Iceland 10 4 1 5 14 20 13
Northern Ireland 10 3 2 5 14 12 11
Malta 10 0 1 9 4 24 1
A fair standing. The most notable was the 3-1 victory over the Czechs in Reykjavik.
Here are the final standings before the euro2000 championships:
France 10 6 3 1 17 10 21
Ukraine 10 5 5 0 14 4 20
Russia 10 6 1 3 22 12 19 Eliminated
Iceland 10 4 3 3 12 7 15 Eliminated
Armenia 10 2 2 6 8 15 8 Eliminated
Andorra 10 0 0 10 3 28 0 Eliminated
We drew France 1-1 at home, beat Russia 1-0 at home and drew 1-1 against Ukriane in Kiev for example. Iceland had chance to qualify coming into the final round but a 3-2 loss France meant it wasnt to be.
Iceland is a jo-jo team during the previous 7 years the team beaten Italy once and drawn with them, beaten the Czechs, beaten the Swedes but also lost big time. Also lost 1-6 against England in a friendly and 0-6 against Denmark but that was under poor managers.
Iceland beat South Africa 4-1 last August in a friendly. Benny McCarthy looked lost, what will Yorke do?
Im hoping for a good game tomorrow. 2-1 to Iceland.
PS. Im a Man Utd fan and Yorkie is one of my favourite players ever. Pure class!!!
May T&T win the World Cup.
