Dubai: Eidur Gudjohnsen admits that if it wasn’t for his cameo appearance in last summer’s Euros, he would be “a bitter old man” watching Iceland at next year’s World Cup.
The 39-year-old former Chelsea and Barcelona striker scored a record 26 goals in 88 appearances for the North Atlantic island, between 1996 and 2016, but just as his country started qualifying for major tournaments he had to retire.
He came on as a late substitute in a 1-1 group stage draw with Hungary, and a 5-2 quarter-final defeat to hosts France, in their first European Championship last year — where they famously knocked-out England 2-1 in the Last 16. However, he hasn’t played any part in their historic first World Cup qualification, which was confirmed this month.
It is a cruel irony because as a back-to-back Premier League winner with Chelsea in 2005 and 2006, who won the La Liga and Champions League double with Barcelona in 2009, Gudjohnsen is easily Iceland’s biggest name.
“The Euros really helped me,” Gudjohnsen told Gulf News in Dubai on the sidelines of a Football Escapes soccer school at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jumeirah on Friday.
“I only played two or three games for 10-15 minutes, but it was enough to give me fulfilment and realise the dream I’d had since I was a boy.
“Now it makes it easier to see us go into a World Cup without me being involved. If I hadn’t gone to the Euros, you would probably be looking at a very bitter old man.
“I will have this feeling of wanting to play until my dying day, but physically it’s not there anymore,” he added of the impossibility of putting off retirement until after the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Instead, he can take some solace in knowing he played a part in inspiring the next generation of Icelandic players.
“I like to think I set a good example for players coming through and pushed the boundaries a little bit.
“I think I’ve shown that it doesn’t matter where you are from, if you have talent, ability and dedication, you can go as far as you want.
“I hope players, not just this generation, but those who come after, can take that on and push even further than me. I hope I set a standard but I want them to go past whatever I’ve set. So yes, I’d like to say I’ve played a small part.”
Going beyond what Gudjohnsen achieved would not only involve club accomplishments, but also country. And he now feels they have what it takes to turn back-to-back Euro and World Cup debut qualifications into a regular occurrence.
“There’s definitely enough talent in Iceland for this not to be a one off, but obviously we need more than just talent, we need the same atmosphere, dedication and belief in the team — I’m fully confident that this will repeat itself.
“I honestly thought after the Euros there would be a bit of a hangover because you reach something and then come back down to earth, but the players this year have got even closer together. They saw what they wanted to achieve and they got there. It’s an amazing story.
“It’s difficult to say what they can do now,” he added of the smallest country to have reached a Euros or a World Cup. “We went further in the Euros than anyone expected and I’ve got a feeling we will go further in the World Cup than anyone expected as well. If we get through the group it would be an amazing achievement.
“This is new territory for us, we’ve got nothing to compare ourselves to as this is the first time we’ve got there. The fact we are there is already an achievement. But I’d like to think we’re not just happy with getting there, let’s represent our country well and give it a go as we did in the Euros. We weren’t just there to take part, we went for it.”
Asked if Iceland could become the blueprint for smaller nations, Gudjohnsen said: “It’s not easy to teach what comes naturally. This Iceland team have got a group of players in this generation that are unbelievably proud to represent their country and you cannot teach that. They’ve just got a togetherness and when you come together as a group and set your standards high you find that aim.”
Gudjohnsen is in Dubai with Football Escapes conducting soccer schools alongside former Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jumeirah from October 23-27.
