Iceland coach Heimir Hallgrimsson has said his team will not change their tactics regardless of the opposition they face at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The Europeans play Nigeria in their second match in Group D on Friday. They are joint second in the group with Argentina after their 1-1 draw with the South American giants in their opening match last Saturday.
Hallgrimsson said despite their draw with Argentina, the World Cup debutants are not carried away and would stick to their strengths to get the desired results.
The strengths of Iceland include excellent defensive organisation and effectiveness at set-pieces both in attack and defence. But Nigeria’s weaknesses come from poor defending of set-pieces.
“We are not of the opinion that we are at all better than Nigeria. We know our strengths, and need to make the best of them,” Hallgrimsson told FIFA TV.
“We have some players who are outstanding against Argentina that can help us in the kind of style we play. One of them is Aron Gunnarssson. He played well against Argentina despite the fact that he is just returning to action after an injury lay-off.
“Against Nigeria, he will definitely be fitter to play after playing for 90 minutes against Argentina.”
According to FIFA statistics, in 26 competitive matches from 2014 to 2018, the Icelandic team have had 44 per cent possession on average, a little over 45 per cent when they win and 47 per cent when they lose.
Source: Punch
