<p class="title">Iceland's Viking mentality meant they arrived at the World Cup without an ounce of fear, despite being dropped into a difficult group, and while they battled bravely every time they stepped onto the pitch their hopes were dashed by a lack of firepower.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Two years after stunning world football by reaching the quarterfinals of Euro 2016, Iceland, the smallest nation by population ever to qualify for the World Cup, got off to a great start in Russia by holding Argentina to a 1-1 draw.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, Nigeria proved too tough a test in their second match of Group D, a 2-0 defeat, and while Gylfi Sigurdsson missed a penalty Iceland looked like they had no idea how to drag themselves out of a hole.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sigurdsson, by far Iceland's most creative player, missed three months of action in the leadup to the World Cup due to a knee injury and did not look his sharpest in Russia, and there did not seem to be anyone capable of picking up the slack.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Having just five shots on target and scoring one goal in their first two encounters, Iceland needed a win to have any chance of going through and threw off the shackles in their final game against Croatia, hitting the target six times and scoring through a Sigurdsson spot-kick.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They also restricted Croatia to just two efforts on target, but unfortunately for Iceland, both went in.</p>.<p class="bodytext">While the defeat dumped Iceland out of the tournament and left them bottom of the group with one point, there was plenty of praise to go round. </p>.<p class="bodytext">"I couldn't be more proud of the players, but we are disappointed to not go through," coach Heimir Hallgrimsson said. "It’s a beautiful game but sometimes it's really tough."</p>
<p class="title">Iceland's Viking mentality meant they arrived at the World Cup without an ounce of fear, despite being dropped into a difficult group, and while they battled bravely every time they stepped onto the pitch their hopes were dashed by a lack of firepower.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Two years after stunning world football by reaching the quarterfinals of Euro 2016, Iceland, the smallest nation by population ever to qualify for the World Cup, got off to a great start in Russia by holding Argentina to a 1-1 draw.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, Nigeria proved too tough a test in their second match of Group D, a 2-0 defeat, and while Gylfi Sigurdsson missed a penalty Iceland looked like they had no idea how to drag themselves out of a hole.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sigurdsson, by far Iceland's most creative player, missed three months of action in the leadup to the World Cup due to a knee injury and did not look his sharpest in Russia, and there did not seem to be anyone capable of picking up the slack.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Having just five shots on target and scoring one goal in their first two encounters, Iceland needed a win to have any chance of going through and threw off the shackles in their final game against Croatia, hitting the target six times and scoring through a Sigurdsson spot-kick.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They also restricted Croatia to just two efforts on target, but unfortunately for Iceland, both went in.</p>.<p class="bodytext">While the defeat dumped Iceland out of the tournament and left them bottom of the group with one point, there was plenty of praise to go round. </p>.<p class="bodytext">"I couldn't be more proud of the players, but we are disappointed to not go through," coach Heimir Hallgrimsson said. "It’s a beautiful game but sometimes it's really tough."</p>