Unfortunately, Iceland is just about as close as Ireland (just one letter after all) will get to the World Cup in Brazil and one Irish supporter has decided to row behind the Boys in Blue.
Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane will be plotting for the European Championships in France in 2016, but this Friday the final four European spots will be up for grabs with the first legs of the play-offs.
Iceland will be bidding for a place in next summer’s tournament, a remarkable achievement for a country with a population of a little over 320,000, which would make them the smallest populated country to ever reach the finals. To put their size into context, Dublin alone has nearly four times that figure, while County Down has 200,000 more inhabitants.
We know in this country only too well that all support is welcome when taking on bigger nations, so with that in mind, Eoin Conlon has created County Iceland, a website pledging support to the international minnows ahead of their first leg with Croatia in Reykjavik on Friday night. A Twitter account, FAIceland has also been set-up and hopefully it will all help Lars Lagerback and co.
Friday of course will be the dawning of a new era as Latvia come to the Aviva as you-know-who take charge of their first game, but for two games only, Iceland will have widespread support in their fairy-tale journey that has led them to the brink of the World Cup.
C’mon County Iceland.
