World Gaming Magazine

29 WGM #52 2017/11 wgm8.com 人 口仅33.5万的冰岛，创造了属于他们自己的世界杯 历史。他们在世界杯预选赛欧洲赛区击败了小组中 的克罗地亚、乌克兰和土耳其，以小组头名身份晋 级决赛圈。在冰岛之前，特立尼达和多巴哥曾经是最小的 世界杯参赛国，人口为130万。紧随其后的，是北爱尔兰 （185万）、斯洛文尼亚（208万）、牙买加（289万）和威 尔士（310万）。 目前执教冰岛的教练黑米尔•哈尔格里姆森于去年接 过拉格贝克的教鞭之前，曾是兼职牙医。他在过去五年间 协助拉格贝克执教，提升自己的执教技术。在率领球队锁 定2018年俄罗斯世界杯的一席之位后，他评价道：“这感 觉奇怪极了，我不知道说什么。我的意思是……贝利、马 拉多纳、艾伦•艾纳尔•古纳尔森（冰岛队长）。” 世界杯从贝利和马拉多纳的年代发展至今，经历了参 赛国的扩军，这也让冰岛故事成为可能，给了像古纳尔森 这样的球员争夺足球世界最伟大荣耀的机会。连荷兰、智 利和美国都爆冷错过了世界杯决赛机会，可想冰岛的这一 成就何等令人惊叹。老国王倒下了，新国王站了起来。 冰岛在世预赛上的成功，同样证明他们去年夏天的欧 洲杯之旅绝非一时运气。在16强比赛中，拉格贝克对阵罗 伊•霍奇森的英格兰，冰岛是绝对黑马。但他们在场上踢得 更有统治力，让三狮军团看上去就像一只乖巧的小猫，并 最终以2-1的比分淘汰了对手。 在1/4决赛中，冰岛在点球大战中被东道主、决赛参赛 队法国淘汰。虽然提前离开欧洲杯，但冰岛球员都高昂着 W ith a population of just 335,000, Iceland created their own slice of World Cup history by beating the likes of Croatia, Ukraine and Turkey to top their European qualifying group. Before Iceland, Trinidad and Tobago was the smallest nation ever to play at the World Cup with a population of 1.3 million, followed by Northern Ireland (1.85 million), Slovenia (2.08 million), Jamaica (2.89 million) and Wales (3.1 million). Current manager Heimir Hallgrimsson, who was a part-time dentist before taking over from Lagerbäck last year, learned his trade as national team assistant over the course of the last five years. After seeing Iceland seal their seat in Russia in 2018, he proclaimed, “This is really odd, I don’t know what to say. I mean ... Pelé, Maradona, Aron Einar Gunnarsson (Iceland captain).” The expansion of the World Cup from Pelé and Maradona’s era to the current format makes this story possible, giving players like Gunnarsson the chance to fight for football’s greatest glory. To put Iceland’s achievement into context, countries to miss qualification include the Netherlands, Chile and the USA. Old kings fall down, new kings stand up. Iceland’sWorld Cup qualification also proves that their European Cup run last summer was no fluke. Lagerbäck’s team was a huge underdog when they faced Roy Hodgson’s