What small mentality? How mighty Iceland finished above Portugal in Euro 2016's Group F

The v alkyries had chosen those who were to fall in battle. Norse god Odin’s mythic female conveyors of the fallen, accompanied by ravens, had spared the vikings from Iceland on Wednesday, and carried off the Austrians to the halls of Valhalla in Asgard. They will live to battle the demigods of the English Premier League on 27 June at Nice.

War and sport have a long and tangled association . The end of each match is often depicted as a battlefield after the confrontation. There are fallen warriors, heroes who carry the day, betrayals, extraordinary performances, twists in the tale, moments that define years. Norse mythology is a rich source of war metaphor, as also grist for the mill of sports columns.

Iceland’s Group F game against Austria was more about the storyline than football tactics. In fact, this is the kind of game that gives a tactician a nightmare. But the football fan feasts on what the tactician loathes. A dramatic twist that throws all calculations to the wind, a sudden turn that excites us and provides memories that drag us through the long hours, glued to the TV through dreary games that are tight tactical battles.

Iceland’s progress to the Round of 16 is that kind of story. It will be summoned and recalled over years. It will be used to show the uselessness of statistics and tactics and FIFA World Rankings. It will be used to provide the counterpoint in sports columns. In football chat shows, when the discussion gets too intricate and intense for the viewers, the anchor – mindful of the producers instructions – will lighten up the air with two word: “But Iceland…?”

Truth be told, there is a design at work in Iceland’s success. Much has been written about that, too. The building of extensive all-weather stadiums and infrastructure, the army of coaches that doesn’t allow any juvenile footballing talent to go ungroomed, a sports association firmly invested in its people. We’ve heard all that. It’s not about what we knew or what we had read or what we had heard. It’s what we saw.

Having had their hearts broken by Hungary’s late equaliser, Iceland took it deep into injury time to get its own slice of late, late, late good fortune. Young Arnor Traustason goal wasn’t an equaliser, however. It was a winner. It brought Iceland its first victory in a major competition.

For the record, Iceland is the only unbeaten team in the history of the European Championships. Not a record Iceland will be able to sustain for very long – this won’t be their last tournament. They will not last very long in international football with only spirit, with their hard-running, frantic, defensive, counter-attacking football. They will have to evolve. They will evolve. But now is not the time to say all that.

Now is the time to marvel, to wonder, to dream. To redefine what is possible. For example, it was finally possible for Portugal to go through, placed third behind Iceland. Superstar-cum-sulk-artist Cristiano Ronaldo might have scored two goals to draw Portugal’s game against Hungary, but the man – his social media followers outnumber Iceland’s population several times over – will not live down his comments about Iceland’s “small mentality”. Opposing fans have booed him and chanted Lionel Messi’s name from the stands in the past. Don’t be surprised if they use Iceland’s name. The long records of Ronaldo’s numerous outstanding exploits will bear a Norse footnote.

Iceland’s first goal in the 18th came in a manner that did not surprise anybody who knew this team even marginally. Captain Aron Gunnarson’s trademark long, long throw-ins are a set-piece in Icelandic tactics, which is why centre-back Kari Arnason was hanging around Austria’s box. His gentle tap fell kindly to Jon Bodvarsson, who produced a fine first touch and then beat the Austrian ’keeper with a clean, low right-footed drive into the bottom left corner.

After that, there was a touch of a siege mentality – Austria launched a siege, Iceland were besieged. The fine stuff was over, the vikings were going to take over. There was pulling and pushing and the kind of desperate stuff that would have looked ugly, if it weren’t being deployed by a football team sent in by an island-nation of 3,30,000 people. The neutrals were not watching this game for the fine touches or subtle movement. There was but one question: Can this miracle continue? Will it continue?

That the referee awarded a penalty was no surprise, even if David Alaba made Ari Skulason’s wayward tug look like a full-on viking assault. That Austria gave it to Aleksandar Dragovic was surprising. His missing the penalty was not a shocker, not in this tournament.

Ragnar Sigurdsson is the building block of Iceland’s defence, but the outstanding performance on Wednesday was his partner Arnason’s. It looked unlikely that Iceland would hold on to their lead, for they don’t know how to keep possession. The ball, in all fairness, doesn’t yet like Icelandic feet; it doesn’t stay there for too long. The viking spirit does not provide the composure and counter-intuitive thinking in tight situations. Defending constantly is much more physically exhausting than keeping the ball.

Austria pressed hard in the second half. With Marc Janko’s substitution, they looked more incisive; Marko Arnautovic’s talents showed better when he had the game in front of him, not when he was playing up front. Alessandro Schopf’s 60th-minute equaliser resulted from the renewed impetus that the substitutes brought.

As the second half moved on, Iceland’s players looked completely drained from all the chasing around. All of them except Thor, which is Birkir Bjarnason’s nickname. The Norse gods seem to have blessed him with a spare lung. Apart from playmaker Gylfi Sigurdsson, he’s the only other member of this team who shows footballing class. The others are there because of spirit, discipline and commitment.

Iceland’s substitutions were all defensive. The fresh legs provided the late counter, as Austria surged forward for a last-gasp winner. Traustason and midfielder Elmar Bjanason are both promising young players. It was their combination running across the field that broke Austrian hearts.

In the Round of 16, England will be a different proposition. Yet, England’s football system – geared towards ever greater profits in the world’s richest domestic league, rather than towards grooming young talent – has a long history of disappointing in international games. A large number of the EPL’s international followers might actually root for Iceland. And the valkyries will be hovering, watching over the game. We will all watch eagerly for whom they choose.