Iceland Team 2018

In recent years, we have become accustomed to hearing the Icelandic celebration after each victory, the drum beats twice, and then the players and the audience clap together in strength, a fun scene in the world of the ball to see their fans this harmony between players and fans of the team.

Last month it was repeated, but it was different this time. After a 2-0 win over Kosovo on October 9th, the Icelandic team qualified for the World Cup, with a population of 330,000, becoming the smallest country in the world to reach the tournament. .
What does qualification mean?
The qualification for the World Cup is an unprecedented achievement in the history of Iceland. It may even have been unexpected from many individuals.
The Icelandic coach is working in another job as a dentist, which reflects a somewhat cynical view for some, where the coach of any team is fully dedicated to the job to follow the players in all world patrols, and then choose the perfect combination.
"That means the whole world," said former Iceland captain Judy Bergson, who currently serves as president of the Icelandic Football Association.
"For many years, we were sitting in our homes watching great TV shows. People in our country decide in which grade they will be, and for which team they will be encouraged, now we will go there to participate. "
The Icelandic team may have been uncommon. The teams with small populations like Iceland in Europe did not have good results in the qualifiers. For example, teams: Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, Faroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino. These five teams scored only 10 goals, while conceding 176 goals.
On the other hand, the Icelandic team has no unique history in football, and even six years ago it was not even ranked as one of the top 100 in the world by Elo, who has more accuracy in FIFA rankings.
The road to Russia
In the years that followed, the Icelandic under 21s managed to reach the European Championship for the first time in 2011 and continued to improve until the 2016 European Championships.
Where the Icelandic team succeeded in achieving a remarkable success in reaching the quarter-finals, ahead of the English team in the previous round.
Even at the women's level, the women's team managed to reach the last three editions of the European Championship.
Today we can find out how to advance the Icelandic ranking in the Elo classification, until he reached 19th place.
In order for the Icelandic to reach the World Cup, they needed to win against teams like Croatia, Ukraine and Turkey. And each has been able to reach the championship successfully in the past 20 years.
The question remains: How did the Icelandic team, in a country where only four hours of sunshine could shine in the winter, manage to do this?