VICE Sports Q&A: ​Ólafur Kristjánsson, Icelandic National Team Scout and Randers FC Head Coach

Ólafur Kristjánsson is the head coach of Denmark's Randers FC. He's also an Icelander. As one of the nation's best soccer minds—he's one of only two Icelandic head coaches working abroad, in Europe—the Football Association of Iceland (KSI) asked him to help scout opposition during Iceland's incredible run to the Euro 2016 quarterfinals.

Earlier this week, VICE Sports caught up with Ólafur, who is now back in Denmark preparing for his club's preseason. He told us about his experience scouting for the national team; his thoughts on Iceland's historic 2-1 defeat of England and Iceland's next opponent, France, whom Iceland plays on Sunday; and how it feels to see three players he coached as youths represent Iceland in the most high profile sporting event in the nation's history.

VICE Sports: As a national team scout, what were you looking for when you were watching Portugal?

Ólafur Kristjánsson: I saw all the friendlies they played leading up to the Euros [against Norway, England and Estonia], and of course you try to look at the strengths. When you're watching players like Ronaldo, Nani, Quaresma, whatever, you have some ideas about how they play, but for me it was important not to let that knowledge blur my sight, if you can understand what I mean. I tried to see how the team was playing, what are the strengths, what are the weaknesses, where are there patterns, and so on. And I tried to give the coaches some idea about what you can expect. I think how both the coaches approached the game and how the players played the game was, for me, after seeing so many Portugal games, very pleasing.

Was there anything specific about the Portugal match that you saw Iceland do based on your advice?

They seemed to be quite successful when playing against players with individual skills, like Ronaldo, or as you saw in the qualification, playing against Arjen Robben. [Note: Iceland beat Robben's Netherlands team home and away in qualifying.] Portugal put in a lot of crosses, and in the dying minutes of the game they had so many offensive players, but the way the Icelandic team dealt with the attacks was quite pleasing, because they closed the most dangerous spaces but left open some others and gave themselves an opportunity to go on a counterattack that almost created a winning goal in that game. So, the acceptance that you can eat your own cake, but you have to be very clever when you pick the pieces you want to eat.

Have you gotten to see all of Iceland's games in France?

I was with the team the first week up to the game against Portugal, [as] part of my obligation for the federation. Then I took part in the preparations for the first game. In the second week, I went out scouting possible opponents and saw the game against Hungary in Marseille, then I had to go back for my job in Denmark for a week and tripped down to see the game last Monday against England. That was a once in a lifetime opportunity. So I've seen three of the four games live, and I saw the Austria game on television.

Are you going to go to the France match?

[Exhales loudly; long pause.] We are in preseason [at Randers] starting on the 20th of July. So it's very tempting to go to Paris to see the game, but I have to give it a day or two to think about it.

As someone who knows this team better than just about anybody, can you describe its strengths and weaknesses?

Obviously the strengths are that there's a strong unity. It's a group of players, not only the first 11, but the whole squad, and everybody is willing to sacrifice their own ego for the sake of the team.

If you look at football, then it's quite strong organization, with discipline again, and hard work, when they're playing in this 4-4-2 formation and have been doing that through qualification. And of course the coaches, both Lars Lagerback and Heimir, there's been a lot of repetition. I think the players are very confident in the way they play.

If you look at it, it's playing with low risk when you have the ball, but they're trying to find the shortest way, so to speak, to the goal, and then you rely a lot on strong defensive organization. That's been quite successful. I think they've gained a lot of respect. You know, the work ethic has been brilliant. They have stuck to their game plan and believed in their way of doing it, and that's a strength.

It's very difficult to point out weaknesses, because you could chose to say, Okay, it's a weakness that they can not keep the ball for a long time, but as I see it, they don't want to keep the ball for a long time. It's about knowing what can make you vulnerable and what can make you strong, and try to emphasize the strong side of the team.

What been the biggest surprise? The England match?

[Takes deep breath.] It's difficult to say. When you look back, then you realized maybe you shouldn't be so surprised. But if I had to pick something that has impressed, it's the belief. Although you have some difficult periods in the game, although you concede a goal against England in the beginning of the game, the belief in what they are doing and the mental strength is so much that they seem to crawl back into the games.

The friendlies up to the Euros were not convincing, but when they came to the camp and they started preparing, you could see it was building up in a good way, and of course it was important to get a good result in the first game, getting a point, scoring a goal. So there were quite a few aspects that of course helped. But the mental strength and the way they've approached the game has been very impressive.

Before the England game, people were saying Iceland would be vulnerable in the wide areas, but I think they surprised people with how they dealt with Raheem Sterling, for example.

Yeah, but again you have, in the fullback positions, two players in [Birkir] Sævarsson and [Ari Freyr] Skúlason. Sævarsson has good speed and he's a very reliable defender. He's an unsung hero because he's not getting a lot of credit for his game. On the other side you have Skúlason, who is not the tallest on the pitch, but he's very clever. And then you have two players in front of them who are doing huge work in the defensive part of the game—Gunnarson and Gudmundson—who track back and give support. And of course the two central defenders played probably the best game in the tournament for their part, together as a pair. They closed down, in my opinion, all the attempts.

England is a big country with good players. Maybe it was because Iceland was clever, it depends how you look at it. [England] were not a threat at all throughout the game.

As a scout, were you surprised England failed to deal with the long throw that lead to Iceland's first goal?

I assume and I'm quite sure the English scouts and English players are neither blind nor deaf. So if they haven't seen it they must have heard about it, because it's a weapon Iceland have used for a long time—the Gunnarsson throw—and then they have this good movement [off the ball]. I think they caught them a little bit flat footed, but scoring two goals after long throws in the tournament is quite pleasing. And I think it's more that the players made the right runs and were aggressive on the balls than the English are not prepared.

Let's talk about France. What are your feelings about the upcoming match?

[Laughs]. I said before we played against England, in my opinion, England was probably the best opponent to meet. Not with disrespect, but I felt that the other possible opponents, like Croatia or Belgium, were at the moment more of a strong unit with some lethal individuals, which isn't something I've seen from the English team in the tournament.

Now we face a French team that has really, really strong individuals. But it's a little bit the same with what we've seen in the England team. They have not been convincing as a unit. So no doubt about it, there's huge talent and quality in the French team and it's going to be a handful, but I don't know what to say. When you've gone through the group stage and have beaten England and now you're facing France, I mean, I think we still have a chance of creating an upset.

Of course, that's going to be against all odds, again.

One of the strengths in the Icelandic team, it seems to be that they don't care. It's just another task, another opponent, and it's about approaching the task with the same, how do you say, humility, and trying to emphasize your strengths rather than focusing on the strengths of the opponents.

Do you think all the talk about Iceland's population size gives the team a psychological advantage over these bigger countries?

One characteristic of the Icelandic population, if you can say that, is that we never use the fact that we're not so many as an excuse. It might be a naive way of thinking, but I've experienced it a little bit myself when I came to Denmark and I was asked, "How is it to be an Icelandic coach in the Danish league?" Well, then I had to say to a journalist, "Thank you for reminding me. I never thought about it."

But of course, of course it plays a part that there are these huge expectations from the press on the English team. But there is no pressure or expectation on the Icelandic team. Of course that's an advantage. But I don't think the players themselves are thinking that up to the game and in the game.

You had a long coaching career in Iceland before you moved to Europe. Did you ever coach any of the players in the Iceland squad?

Fortunately I've had three players that are in the squad. I had Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson, who's playing at Charlton [Athletic]. I had [Alfreð] Finnbogason, who is playing in the Bundesliga with Augsburg. And then I had central defender [Sverrir Ingi] Ingason, who is now at Lokeren. I had them since they were youth players, and they played for the first team in Breiðablik when I was there.

It must be special for you when they take the field.

Yeah. That's probably one of the best rewards you can get as a coach, when you see players who've been working with for a long time and been so fortunate to, you know, have had a hand in developing their careers. I'm always proud, but I was very proud when they were picked and I have been very proud when they've gotten minutes.

It's no doubt that it's a better reward than any money in the world.

[End]

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The interview was edited for both length and clarity.