Iceland national football team manager, Heimir Hallgrímsson has spoken so well about his impetuous passion for football as well as his other professional calling as a dentist in an exclusive conversation with MORAKINYO ABODUNRIN.
In modern era , football managers dedicate their time solely to the game and hardly find time for other pursuits but Hallgrímsson is a perfect exception to the rule.
“Football in Iceland is mostly amateur, so people in football, coaches and players, more or less all have jobs,” Hallgrímsson, stated exclusively in an interview with The Nation .“Today, I am first and foremost a football coach, but once in a while, I like to spend a day or two doing dentist work, just to do something different.”
Hallgrímsson is undoubtedly a man on a mission and the 50-year-old made history last October ensuring Iceland qualification as the smallest country by population ever to make the World Cup party at the forthcoming Russia 2018.
“One thing after another ; and that has always been my life (an inspirational story); I coached junior teams for about 17 years; the men’s team for five years and women’s teams for five years and seven years now with national team,” quipped Hallgrímsson on iPod cast with MeninBlazers.“ It’s strange when you have done six years of university education and being a dentist which is a well-paid job.
“But my passion has always been coaching; I’ve always worked as a dentist along with coaching. I jumped into it when I had the opportunity of full time coaching even though my mother was unhappy about it,” he added.
Remarkably, Hallgrímsson had served as the dentist for his home village of Vestmannaeyjar and he remained part-time in that profession until taking sole reign over the Icelandic national team after Euro 2016.
As a player with Höttur in 1993, he coached their women team and secured the team promotion in the Icelandic women second tier league. He also coached the women’s senior team, ÍBV with some marked success at the top of the Icelandic women Premier league.
He served as assistant manager for the men team of ÍBV in 2002 and also the club’s women team in 2003 leading them to second-place finish in two successive seasons. He led the ÍBV’s women team to cup glory in 2004. He later took over as the manager for the ÍBV men team mid-season in 2006, managing the team in the last six matches but failing to prevent relegation. He remained this time as manager and got promoted with the team in the 2008 season, finishing 10th out of 12 in the top division in 2009 before managing two 3rd-place finishes in a row in 2010 and 2011.
Hallgrímsson worked as an assistant with Swede Lars Lagerbäck (the former Super Eagles’ manager to the FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010) but they missed the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification by whiskers to Croatia in the play-off stage.
But they rebounded and ensured Iceland qualification for their first major international tournament at the 2016 UEFA European Championship held in France but it was Hallgrímsson that singlehandedly ensured Iceland’s qualification for Russia 2018.
“The feeling (qualifying Iceland for the World Cup for the first time) is obviously good,” Hallgrímsson enthused via electronic mail exclusive to The Nation. “To qualify for the EURO 2016 tournament was a great achievement; when we had done that, no one could ever say that we are too few as a nation to qualify for a major tournament.”
Yet the trained dentist is determined to drill more success in Russia 2018:“Now we have qualified for the World Cup; also a great achievement. But, having said that, it is very important to realize that success is not a destination, it is a continuous journey in the right direction, so we must think further than the World Cup and keep improving.”
Incidentally, former Super Eagles captain and manager, Sunday Oliseh recently on a local radio morning breakfast show gave a rare insight into the workings of Hallgrímsson describing the man with whom he bagged the UEFA Licenced certificate as a remarkable manager.
“Nigeria against Iceland in Volgograd is a dangerous game,” noted Oliseh who represented Nigeria at USA’ 94 and scorer of a winning scorcher in the 3-2 defeat of Spain at France’98. “ The Iceland’s national team coach, they call him Heimir was my classmate during my coaching course. He’s a dentist during the day and national team coach at night but he’s a very prudent man and that’s why it’s going to be a very difficult game for Nigeria to manage because Iceland like their manager, plays a very prudent game.
“Heimir sees a lot of things; remember what they did at Euro 2016 and they did well by qualifying for Russia 2018 straight away and not from play-off,” noted Oliseh.
Yet Hallgrímsson said he was not losing any sleep about the prospects of facing some tough challenges against Argentina, Nigeria and Croatia at Russia 2018.
On paper, Iceland does not have the pedigree or boast of ‘world class’ players in their fold but Hallgrímsson believes impossibility is nothing, adding the ‘ Boys from Reykjavik can weather the Russia 2018 Group D storm through dedication, work ethic and persistence.
“I sleep okay and I don’t know why I’m this type; but I sleep okay,” Hallgrímsson noted again @MeninBlazers. “But sometimes, you wake up in the middle of the night with a thought and you have to record such thought on the iPhone or put it into the paper.
“Of course, everybody is terrified about Lionel Messi because no matter what you do he could always find a way to hurt you; whether you put a player or two around him. But I have never been worried about one player especially Argentina because they have top players in Italy, Spain and England.
“So, they can hurt us in many ways if we focus on one player.”
Meanwhile, Hallgrímsson would further reinforced his beliefs while responding to enquiries from The Nation: “We go into every single match we play with a specific game plan, and we want to win every single match we play. This one (Iceland’s opener against Argentina complete with Lionel Messi) is no different. We defend as a team, and as a team we have to find a way to beat team Argentina, regardless of which players they will field.”
After playing Argentina on June 16 in their opening Group D match of Russia 2018, Iceland face another daunting task against the Super Eagles of Nigeria at the Volgograd Arena on June 22 before their final group match against Croatia at Rostov-on-Don on June 26 but Hallgrímsson has equally hazard guesses.
“There are some really good players from Nigeria playing in strong European leagues. But to be honest, at this point we do not know much about team Nigeria; we will be prepared when we meet them in Russia.
“We have played Croatia so many times in recent years; I think they are as tired of us as we are of them (joking). We have beaten them before, and (we) can beat them again.”
In the meantime, a good a coach according to competitorspot.com must have at least seven good traits including: believe; pro-active; persistence; focus on what is working; team work, being positive and enjoying the process.
“As a player, having the right attitude and mind-set is important, but as a coach it is essential, “argued the writer on competitorspot.com, adding : “In order to inspire others, create a positive environment, and develop confident players, a coach has to set the right tone for their team.
“In addition to teaching soccer techniques and tactics, coaches have the opportunity to teach life lessons and shape the lives of their players. With this in mind, the game of soccer can be a great teaching tool for players to develop traits that will serve them in life beyond the pitch.”
In the light of the above analyses, Hallgrímsson equally told The Nation matter-of-factly that it would be hard to categorize coaches either good or bad.
“What makes a good and a bad coach?That is almost impossible to answer, as every coach and every team is different,” noted Hallgrímsson who will mark his 51st anniversary on June 10.“ I would think that a coach´s job is to get the best out of his players and his team, but it´s a dialogue, everyone has a voice, coaches and other staff, players, officials.
“Not much different really (between coaching men and women teams); as a coach you still have to bring the same elements together, find the right tactics, the right mix of players, etc.”
Over the years, Hallgrímsson has equally shown that he’s a team player since he worked closely as an assistant to veteran Swede, Lars Lagerback with some good results .
“ Soccer coaches must create a team first atmosphere where emphasis is placed on achieving goals together,” noted the writer of 7 Habits of A Good Coach on competitorspot.com, including:“ The importance of a single individual should never detract from your teams overall mission. Together everyone achieves more.”
Indeed ,as joint managers (Lagerback and Hallgrímsson), the Icelandic national team won 13 out of 32 matches played between 2013 and 2016; drawing seven and losing 12 with an average of 40.63% and 62.50% record.
“I am sure Lars had a great time as Nigeria coach,” Hallgrímsson told The Nation. “He is a very experienced man and what he learned as Nigeria coach only added to that experience; but the team (Iceland) is much changed now.”
So, what will be a good tournament for Iceland and Hallgrímsson at Russia 2018?
“We aim to qualify from the group stage and from there we will see what happens,” noted Hallgrímsson with a revelation about his humane side. “I love my family more than anything, and if they are happy, we are happy together.”