Iceland’s first trip to the World Cup is off to a pretty fantastic start. The smallest nation to ever qualify for the World Cup won 1-1 against Argentina to start Group C play on Saturday. Alfred Finnbogason scored the equalizer for the underdogs and the call from Iceland announcer Gummi Ben showed just what it meant to his country.
Iceland has a population of about 334,000, smaller than more than 50 cities in the U.S., but the team qualified for its first World Cup two years after thrilling at the 2016 Euros.
After Argentina took a lead on a fantastic turn from Sergio Aguero, it took just four minutes for Iceland to equalize. And just listen to the Iceland announcer in the above video.
You may not know what he’s saying, but you know what he means.
Despite the heroics from Finnbogason, the play of the day for Iceland came from goalkeeper Hannes Halldórsson, who saved a penalty from Lionel Messi.
#MundialTelemundo ¡ #Messi perdona el penal y #ARG sigue sin poder superar a #ISL! pic.twitter.com/2q31iMNYol
— Telemundo Deportes (@TelemundoSports) June 16, 2018
That’s the World Cup in a nutshell — a nation coming together to create the unlikeliest of events against the greatest of challenges.