Everton playmaker Gylfi Sigurdsson and his bumps on the road to World Cup 2018

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  • Gylfi Sigurdsson (No10) with his Iceland team-mates.

    All footballers fear this moment.

    Gylfi Sigurdsson knew something was amiss. A sharp pain in his knee began in the first half and had only increased by the time the whistle blew on Everton’s 2-0 home victory against promoted Brighton & Hove Albion on March 10.

    The club-record, £45 million (Dh212.7m) purchase from Swansea City in August 2017 had lasted all 90 minutes. But something had gone wrong just at the point a mixed debut season started to come good – four of his six goals had arrived once ex-England boss Sam Allardyce answered the Toffees’ emergency call in November.

    One date played on his mind: June 16 – the point when Iceland’s celebrated underdog story will reach its zenith.

    The smallest nation to ever qualify, their population last counted at 335,000, would on that day run out for World Cup 2018 at Moscow’s 45,360-capacity Otkritie Arena and face down Lionel Messi’s Argentina.

    However, would the undoubted star of Strakarnir okkar (Our Boys) be among their ranks?

    “I was panicking a little bit, of course,” playmaker Sigurdsson tells Sport360° near the end of his successful two-month recuperation at the Toffees’ USM Finch Farm.

    “Being a knee injury, you automatically think about the worst. But luckily, it wasn’t too serious and now I should be fine.

    “It’s not ideal. There is never a good time to get injured.

    “If you are looking at the World Cup, it’s better to get injured sooner rather than later.

    “I probably would have been ruled out of the World Cup if I had gotten injured a month or so later. It was tough to take.

    “I was outside for the last two weeks at Everton, running with the ball and doing some passing. There was a lot of treatment, a lot of stuff in the gym and swimming pool.

    “I was just doing everything I could possibly do to get back as soon as possible.”

    Upon their major-tournament debut at Euro 2016, Iceland’s supporters provided the soundtrack with their sonorous ‘Viking thunderclap’. Plus, the biggest shock when they fought back from Wayne Rooney’s fourth-minute penalty to defeat sorry England 2-1 in the round of 16.

    Growing up in an isolated, rock-strewn Arctic outpost best known for puffins and Bjork, such occasions felt a world away for Sigurdsson.

    The now 28-year-old has been at the vanguard of startling progression. Intelligent investment at the turn of the millennium in full-size indoor pitches and extensive coach training schemes bore fruit with entry to the 2011 European Under-21 Championship.

    Gylfi Sigurdsson was injured playing for Everton against Brighton in March.

    Gylfi Sigurdsson was injured playing for Everton against Brighton in March.

    ‘The Indoor Kids’ – as Sigurdsson’s generation has been fondly nicknamed – have not looked back.

    Wounds caused by play-off defeat for World Cup 2014 were swiftly cauterised on the way to quarter-final elimination by hosts France at the Euros.

    They then bested Croatia, Ukraine and Turkey to top a strong Group I and ensure no heartbreak was suffered along the Road to Russia.

    They were ranked 112th in the world by FIFA in 2010. They head into this event at 22nd.

    “We were so far off getting to the World Cup or the Euros,” says the ex-Tottenham attacker, who boasts more than 50 international caps. “I didn’t really expect it to happen.

    “It was only a couple of years ago that things started to change, and we actually started winning games, that I realised it was a possibility to make it.

    “People almost expect us to win these days. It doesn’t matter who we are playing.

    “I think it is ourselves, as well. We go into every game expecting to win it. It doesn’t matter who we are playing. The confidence within the team shows with what we have done during the last few years.

    “Especially with the World Cup 2018 qualifiers.”

    Iceland beat Kosovo in October to seal their spot at World Cup 2018.

    Iceland beat Kosovo in October to seal their spot at World Cup 2018.

    Eidur Gudjohnsen was the sole projection of Icelandic football to the rest of the globe for much of his celebrated career. Those days were long gone by the time the ex-Chelsea and Barcelona forward performed a bit-part role two years ago in France.

    Sigurdsson is now the team’s star. But he’s flanked by the likes of dangerous Augsburg striker Alfred Finnbogason, valued Burnley winger Johann Berg Gudmundsson and long-haired Aston Villa midfielder Birkir Bjarnason.

    They’ve ensured the current talisman does not feel the sense of isolation endured by his lauded predecessor.

    Sigurdsson says: “I have felt it for the last four or five years, now. I am one of the guys who has to lead the team on and off the pitch. I feel there are a few players who have been doing that.

    “Now, it is down to us to make sure the team is doing the right things.”

    Long-term assistant manager Heimir Hallgrimsson has excelled in sole control since the Euros. The succession plan with Lars Lagerback has been seamless – now, comes the true test.

    After their Group D-opener with contenders Argentina, Iceland face improving Nigeria on June 22 at Volgograd Arena. If they, once again, then best qualifying opponents Croatia on June 26 in Rostov Arena, the road to the round of 16 should open.

    There are no illusions about the task ahead, though.

    “It is such a tough group – it could go either way,” he explains. “We could finish first, or rock bottom. It is one of the toughest groups, I think.

    “It will be very tight with who goes through and who goes out. We want to get to the last 16. Realistically, we know it will be tough and we have to play our best football, if we want that to be possible.”

    No matter what happens, Iceland will count on the loyalty of their fans. For Sigurdsson and his side, this wall of noise could be key to another intoxicating summer for Strakarnir okkar.

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