The tiny country of Iceland continues its improbable run at Euro Cup Sunday afternoon, as they look to slay another soccer giant, France, after knocking out England in a stunning upset.
WATCH: Hero’s welcome for Iceland’s football team
Leading the team is Iceland’s joint-coach Heimir Hallgrimsson; a part-time dentist from the country of just over 330,000 people – roughly the same size as London, Ont.
READ MORE: Tiny Iceland sends mighty England packing in massive Euro 2016 upset
And while Iceland has savoured the worldwide attention it’s received since beating England 2-1, Hallgrimsson hasn’t been as happy with the media attention around his civilian profession.
“I don’t think that I am less a coach because I am a dentist, it’s just a profession like all other professions, I don’t think education makes a person any worse,” he told the Agence France-Presse.
“In Icelandic football, coaches are not paid full-time. I am lucky I have an education in dentistry. In many ways I think it helps doing what we do with the players.”
By comparison, England manager Roy Hodgson, who resigned following a disastrous tournament, is paid $6.3 million a year for the job.
Hallgrimsson, who shares coaching duties with Swedish manager Lars Lagerback, and the Icelandic squad are looking to upset France in the quarter-final Sunday at the Stade de France in front of a crowd of 80,000, the majority of which will be French supporters.
Iceland has found success with a disciplined defence that allowed just three goals in the opening stage, including a 0-0 draw with Portugal that caused star striker Cristiano Ronaldo to lash out against the small nation.
READ MORE: Twitter reacts after Iceland Brexits England from Euro 2016
“When they don’t try to play and just defend, defend, defend, this in my opinion shows a small mentality and they are not going to do anything in the competition,” a frustrated Ronaldo said following the match.
WATCH: Portugal’s Ronaldo throws reporter’s microphone in lake
For Iceland to continue their Cinderalla run, they will need more stellar play from midfielders Aron Gunnarsson and Gylfi Sigurdsson and defender Ragnar Sigurdsson, named man-of-the-match against England.
Here are 3 more things to know about Iceland:
A true underdog story
It is the smallest nation ever to qualify for a major international soccer tournament and with a population approximately one-400th the size of Russia’s they have managed to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in the country’s history.
READ MORE: Twitter reacts after Iceland Brexits England from Euro 2016
Roughly eight per cent of the the entire Iceland nation bought tickets to cheer on the national men’s football team at Euro 2016, according to Icelandmonitor.com.
And half of the entire country is estimated to have tuned in during the country’s 2-1 win over Austria, according to soccer body UEFA.
In April 2012, Iceland were ranked 131st in the world and now sit 34th, according to FIFA.
Their announcers get excited
Announcer Gudmundur Benediktsson became an internet sensation after his reaction to Iceland’s last minute go-ahead goal against Austria went viral.
Benediktsson returned for Iceland’s match against England, and his voice managed to reach a new level after Iceland jumped out to an early 2-1 lead before ultimately winning.
However, Benediktsson, who works as the assistant manager of for KR Reykjavik soccer club, was recently fired after his team lost five of its last six matches, according to the Guardian.
Iceland has a Canadian first lady
Icelandic voters elected a new president earlier this week and in doing so have made Eliza Reid, a Canadian woman who grew up in the Ottawa valley, the Nordic nation’s new first lady.
Gudni Johannesson — a history professor who’s never held public office — has been declared the winner of Sunday’s vote, which means Reid will assume the role of first lady.
READ MORE: Canadian Eliza Reid becomes Iceland’s first lady
Other Canadian connections, include the small towns of Gimli, Man., and Markerville in central Alberta, who have small Icelandic populations and will be following Sunday’s match closely.
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