Iceland's players are "winners" regardless of the outcome of Monday's Euro 2016 last 16 clash with England, but victory would change their lives "forever", joint-coach Heimir Hallgrimsson said on Sunday.
Iceland’s population of 330,000 makes them the smallest nation ever to have qualified for a major tournament and they approach the game in Nice as massive underdogs.
Having qualified at the expense of the Netherlands before emerging from a tough group alongside Hungary and Portugal, they have already made history and Hallgrimsson says that they will face England under no pressure.
“We’ve said previously that this game is a win-win game,” he told a pre-match press conference at Stadium Nice.
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“They’ve already won the hearts of all Icelandic people for their performances. With a good performance against England tomorrow, they’ll always be winners in my book.
“On the other hand, if we beat England, their lives will change forever, and significantly. Icelandic football will go up in reputation and the way we approach football will be different.
“It’ll all look different for us. If you want the best out of life, you have to be ready when the chance is there for you.
“There aren’t bigger chances than this for Icelandic football. It’s just up to the players to play tomorrow and hopefully we will beat England. But whichever way this goes, these players are winners already.”
As well as providing a path to a quarter-final against hosts France, the game also serves to reunite the countries who contested the ‘Cod Wars’ – the name given to a series of confrontations between British and Icelandic fishermen in the North Atlantic between 1958 and 1976.
While Iceland midfielder Aron Gunnarsson, who plays for Welsh club Cardiff City, was reluctant to discuss the matter, Hallgrimsson used it to craft a metaphor about his team.
“This was the only time Iceland went to war,” he said. “We are too small to have an army and lack manpower. So these guys are the Icelandic army.
“That’s why everyone is supporting them. If we had a war, we’d be beaten pretty quickly.”
Iceland's hopes of an upset may hinge upon the set-piece prowess of Gylfi Sigurdsson, who plays his club football in the Premier League for Swansea City, and he said that to beat England would defy belief.
“I’ve dreamed about this since I was a kid,” said Sigurdsson, who scored a penalty in the 1-1 group-stage draw with Hungary in Marseille.
“To play against England and to do it in the final 16? All the lads will be ready to play tomorrow. We’re full of excitement, the game is near and hopefully we will do well.”
Iceland’s experienced Swedish co-coach Lars Lagerback is due to retire after the tournament, with Hallgrimsson, his former assistant, taking on the role on a solo basis, but he is not ready to step aside yet.
“I’d prefer to stay another week or two because I enjoy being with these guys. It would be fantastic to stay,” said the 67-year-old.
“I’m sure the players would like that too, even if it means staying with me another week or two.”
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- set out well ahead of time
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Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
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Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
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Schedule:
Pakistan v Sri Lanka:
28 Sep-2 Oct, 1st Test, Abu Dhabi
6-10 Oct, 2nd Test (day-night), Dubai
13 Oct, 1st ODI, Dubai
16 Oct, 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi
18 Oct, 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi
20 Oct, 4th ODI, Sharjah
23 Oct, 5th ODI, Sharjah
26 Oct, 1st T20I, Abu Dhabi
27 Oct, 2nd T20I, Abu Dhabi
29 Oct, 3rd T20I, Lahore
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The site is part of the Hili archaeological park in Al Ain. Excavations there have proved the existence of the earliest known agricultural communities in modern-day UAE. Some date to the Bronze Age but Hili 2 is an Iron Age site. The Iron Age witnessed the development of the falaj, a network of channels that funnelled water from natural springs in the area. Wells allowed settlements to be established, but falaj meant they could grow and thrive. Unesco, the UN's cultural body, awarded Al Ain's sites - including Hili 2 - world heritage status in 2011. Now the most recent dig at the site has revealed even more about the skilled people that lived and worked there.
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In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Isle of Dogs
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Liev Schreiber, Ed Norton, Greta Gerwig, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson
Three stars
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Company info
Company name: Entrupy
Co-founders: Vidyuth Srinivasan, co-founder/chief executive, Ashlesh Sharma, co-founder/chief technology officer, Lakshmi Subramanian, co-founder/chief scientist
Based: New York, New York
Sector/About: Entrupy is a hardware-enabled SaaS company whose mission is to protect businesses, borders and consumers from transactions involving counterfeit goods.
Initial investment/Investors: Entrupy secured a $2.6m Series A funding round in 2017. The round was led by Tokyo-based Digital Garage and Daiwa Securities Group's jointly established venture arm, DG Lab Fund I Investment Limited Partnership, along with Zach Coelius.
Total customers: Entrupy’s customers include hundreds of secondary resellers, marketplaces and other retail organisations around the world. They are also testing with shipping companies as well as customs agencies to stop fake items from reaching the market in the first place.
Coming 2 America
Directed by: Craig Brewer
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones
3/5 stars
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Napoleon
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Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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TWISTERS
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Starring: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos
Rating: 2.5/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
More on Quran memorisation:
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Dolittle
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Michael Sheen
One-and-a-half out of five stars
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