‘Aim for the sky and you’ll reach the ceiling. Aim for the ceiling and you’ll stay on the floor.’
It's a quote often credited to Liverpool’s legendary manager Bill Shankly, but the mystery behind its actual source is a little hazier than some of his admirers would care to admit. That said, whoever the originator and for whatever purpose, it’s almost impossible to deny the inherent folk wisdom behind its message; if one wants to be successful, one's goals need to be as daring as possible.
When it comes to international football, the coming together of two opposing forces can spark emotions that just don’t crop up on the club scene. Passion of a different vintage, pride in a more concentrated form and an intoxicating tribalism that can rouse players to surpass limits they normally battle with overcoming – playing for your country is a speciality dish that very few like refusing to dine on.
Euro 2016 is in the throes of excitement in the amphitheatres and cavernous cauldrons that are today’s modern football stadiums and we have already been treated to some hugely impressive performances by teams that have shown a desire to aim high, to catapult themselves toward accomplishment.
Indeed, it hasn’t even been the big teams with the brightest stars turning it on either because we have seen some of the underdogs (that’s défavorisés in French) produce surprising strides in the face of adversity as their teams have pulled together to more than makeup for an obvious lack of individual prowess.
Small teams possessing a big mentality
There was quite a bit of uproar surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo’s misguided comments about Iceland‘s apparent lack of a big mentality as social media accounts went into overdrive to defend the team who had held Portugal to a memorable 1-1 draw in Saint-Etienne. The intelligent consensus has been that the smallest team in the competition were brave in their victory and that they deserved their point.
It wasn’t simply a case of on-pitch clashes of power between one big team and one little team; it was a clash of two contrasting histories of football, two very different sets of expectations and a pair of outfits who had their own ideas of what was a good and bad result.
Iceland may only have taken a share of the spoils in terms of points but they won out in the moral stakes. What Ronaldo deemed as a ‘small mentality’ was the end product of a game-plan that found the goal they needed as well as managing to stifle the Portuguese for large periods. More importantly, it was a means of catharsis that saw them deal a sucker punch to a big team that took the Icelanders for granted.
Also read: Euro 2016: Gameweek 1 in memes
What some saw as a group solely out to trip Fernando Santos’ men up in a bid to cause a shock for the sake of headlines, others rightly identified as a team intent on making their mark the only way they knew how – by executing a defensive approach that they felt comfortable with and by coming away with a result that few had even dared to flippantly suggest in the build-up.
To grow big, teams like Iceland have to play to their strengths which is entirely different to aiming low or setting minute objectives, and when one bores through that misconception it becomes clear to see that shutting Portugal down was an immense achievement, particularly for a country with only 330,000 in population.
For Iceland, they aimed for the sky (and have done for quite some time as their rise through the FIFA world rankings testifies to). The only ceiling they hit was the short-sighted view of their begrudging critics. Because the truth is that they are renowned as real soldiers who always give their all and strive to be the best they can. Want proof? Check out this quote from Iceland FA’s Director of Education, Arnar Bill Gunnarsson, from These Football Times’ Jon Townsend:
“I’m not sure if we have a ‘goal’ about what type of player we want to have, but Icelandic players have always been known for their mentality. Their winning mentality, we adapt easily and have a great fighting spirit.”
The team co-managed by Heimir Hallgrimsson and Lars Lagerback are not the only small fish making big waves on the European stage either as the Republic of Ireland have also had a big impact on the competition in France this summer.
Going into the tournament, not many gave the Green Army much of a chance of anything, but they dominated Sweden in their opener and should have emerged with a two or three goal margin of victory for their efforts which saw them hit the crossbar before ultimately taking a deserved lead through fan favourite Wes Hoolahan.
Instead, they were forced to settle for an equal part of the available plunder in their draw. Indeed, Ireland are benefiting from a do-or-die attitude as well, and have been in that mode since before the tournament, as manager Martin O’ Neill’s comments from late May suggests:
“It's not a case of whether we can, we just have to, we have to. It has to be our mindset, it has to be that, that we have to go into those games thinking that we can compete. Otherwise we might as well stay at home.”
Well-executed, intelligent tactics playing a major role
Sticking with Ireland for the moment, their deficiency of supernatural footballers means they are a team who are forced to rely on a system that stems from high levels of concentration, hours of work in front of the tactics whiteboard and even more time on the training pitch, ironing out all the creases of their game-plans. As football has evolved over the years, it has become commonplace for teams of all attributes and technical ability to show increased adaptability when faced with the challenge of matchday.
Up against a team who likes to control possession? Changes need to be made to counter that. Facing an opponent who love getting the ball out wide? One might need to consider doubling up on the wings. It’s part and parcel of the game, but the disregarded teams have a tougher time of being uber-flexible because they don’t always have the strength in depth that their more successful nemeses do.
Watching the Boys in Green against Sweden, although the team in yellow enjoyed more time on the ball, it wasn’t an advantage. Ireland were happy to cede possession because they were comfortable in defence. Despite all the talk about how dangerous Zlatan Ibrahimovic would be on the day, Glenn Whelan, in particular, did a top job of containing him by closing him down all afternoon. In fact, he was so effective in his role that the Paris Saint-Germain striker dropped deep to collect the ball ever so often.
In short, O’ Neill’s charges were effective with their use of the ball as they foraged forward on a number of occasions with some effervescent play, were comfortable in releasing Shane Long to relieve pressure with some long punts up field and knew how to neutralise the Swedish threats with some very conservative defending. Even the prospect of facing world no.2 Belgium will not faze them, and the tactics of Marc Wilmots could well play into Irish hands.
Reverting back to Iceland, many of the same points could apply.
As pointed out by the Telegraph’s JJ Bull, the team dubbed Strákarnir Okkar (Our Boys) have employed a simple but effective 4-4-2 formation since throughout the qualification period which lends itself to a tactical flexibility which has often wrong-footed teams used to more convoluted systems that stay in place throughout the 90 minutes of a match.
They might not be incredibly easy on the eye, but they don’t owe that to anyone, and it would be foolish of them to gun for swashbuckling dribbles and flashy tricks because they would more than likely get spanked by teams eager for them to discard their shell of protection that is their well thought-out philosophy.
In vogue synergy working wonders
Perhaps the most integral component for teams such as these to outgrow their shackles is an insatiable appetite to work for the team all match long. Chasing down lost causes, busting a gut to track back and cover a team-mate who has slipped at the most inopportune of moments or playing the safe pass to guard possession when your side is in need of a breather are all minimum requirements to succeed as part of a team who really want to be greater than the sum of their parts.
The old saying in football is that the fans are the ‘12th man’ and while teams like Iceland and the Republic of Ireland have an amazing group of followers each, it might be more accurate to say that the fans are the 23rd man because each player seems to conjure twice their normal levels when playing for the pride of their national shirt on the big stages.
It is a trend that has worked wonders for teams at club level with teams like Leicester City, FC Rostov and yes, even, Atletico Madrid proving that effort, hard work and self-belief can produce results and inspire magic in a system that values a high team ethic more than individual brilliance.
The football romantics love to see that passion and underdog nature shine through and although the purists wince at the sight of it, it remains difficult to ignore and given the fighting nature of their competitive, synergistic psychology it’s not going to disappear anytime soon.
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