Nigeria vs Iceland, World Cup 2018: Birkir Már Saevarsson struggles after taking an unusual route to Russia, scouting report

It’s fair to say that eyebrows were raised when, with just a season to go until the Russian World Cup, Iceland’s first-choice right-back Birkir Már Saevarsson decided to leave Swedish side Hammarby to return home and play for Knattspyrnufélagið Valur in the semi-professional local league.

Presumably people were even more surprised when Saevarsson – who played all five games as Iceland battled their way to the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 – returned to work at a salt-picking factory, juggling his football with regular hours at the factory in Reykjavik. But to Saevarsson, it made perfect sense.

“To be honest I cannot sit down all day and do nothing,” he admitted on camera last month. “It is boring and you end up just getting lazy. And I didn’t want to get lazy before the World Cup.”

It’s a novel strategy although whether it worked or not is up for debate, and it is certainly it’s hard to envisage the likes of Lionel Messi preparing for Russia with a seasonal stint growing wheat on the Pampas, or something similar. And after a good start to the tournament Saevarsson and his defensive colleagues struggled against Nigeria, slipping to a 2-0 defeat that could well cost them their place in Russia.

Ahead of this tournament, fears had rather understandably been raised over Saevarsson’s performance levels in the semi-pro Úrvalsdeild with Valur. After all, how could a 33-year-old who had spent a season playing in front of some thousand people – with a Uefa coefficient lower than HB Tórshavn of the nearby Faroe Islands – cope when defending against the likes of Messi, Sergio Agüero and Ángel Di María?

Pretty well, as it turns out. Iceland did excellently well to hold back Argentina’s curiously toothless front-line of world superstars, earning a point that rose confidence they could reach the knockout stages in their first ever World Cup appearance.

But Nigeria – and in particular the lightning-quick Ahmed Musa – completely ripped up that script. Not that we knew that forty-five minutes in, however, as Saevarsson and the Iceland back four made a solid start, denying Nigeria a single attempt on goal. It was the first time since the stone cold classic meeting between South Korea and Algeria in 2014 that a side had failed to register a single shot in an opening half of a World Cup match.

And then the opener. Ultimately it wasn’t completely Saevarsson fault, originating instead from a Victor Moses counter-attack down the left, but he was guilty of losing the 50/50 in the middle of the pitch that sparked the lung-bursting run downfield. Saevarsson also had a role to play in Musa’s second: caught out of position as Iceland flooded forward with Nigeria gleefully exploiting the space behind on a second destructive counter.

The result leaves Iceland with one point from their opening two games, meaning they have to take three points off group leaders Croatia if they are to have any chance of reaching the knockout stages. It’s a tough ask that will require Iceland to attack, so expect the normally cautious Heimir Hallgrímsson to once again abandon his 4-5-1 for a 4-4-2. That will invite extra pressure on Saevarsson and his defensive colleagues in what promises to be their toughest fixture yet.

Ultimately, to watch any Iceland player closely is to witness how this remarkable national side has always been greater than the sum of its parts. With the exception of Gylfi Sigurðsson there are no stars in this team – especially in the backline, where Saevarsson lines-up alongside Kári Árnason (who also plays in the Úrvalsdeild, with Víkingur), Ragnar Sigurðsson (seeing out his career in Russia with Rostov) and Bristol City’s Hörður Björgvin Magnússon.

And yet against Nigeria, their team spirit and well-drilled tactical system simply wasn’t enough. There is no shame in Iceland losing at this level – the very fact they were favourites for this game is tribute to the miracle they have worked on the international level – but their World Cup fairytale has surely come to an end.

This will surely be the final major tournament for Saevarsson and so many others in this squad: few could have imagined quite how much they would accomplish.