HAVING lost to Breidablik last year, John Andrews believes there is little chance of Shamrock Rovers underestimating Icelandic opposition this time around.
But sipping a cup of tea — Barry’s, naturally — in Vikingur’s club house, the Cork man is not sure there is a wider Irish appreciation of Iceland’s footballing prowess.
Andrews told SunSport: “There’s a misconception, because of the small population, about the strength of football in the country but the training facilities and the standard of coaching and football itself is incredible.
“Kids here are training four or five times a week from five of six so, technically, they are very advanced.
“All of the coaches are licensed and paid, it’s not just parents doing it.
“So you have teenagers getting their qualifications and getting paid, whatever it is, €30 an hour instead of a shop and it means they are ingrained in the club.
“Internationally, the women are ranked No 14 in the world and, of course, the men beat England at Wembley earlier this month.
“They don’t mind not having the ball.
“People are obsessed about possession and playing the right way.
“But Iceland know they might not have a lot of the ball so they work really hard on being clinical on transition and that’s how they hurt teams.”
Now 45, the ex-Coventry trainee and US soccer scholarship graduate has spent almost a third of his life in Europe’s north-western outpost.
Andrews manages Vikingur’s women’s team.
Last season he not only led them to promotion but they also became the first second-division team to win the Icelandic Cup.
They are adapting well to top-flight life.
“They are fifth and, on Thursday, ended the eight-game, 100 per cent start to the season by Breidablik — whom they had also beaten in the cup decider — with a 2-1 victory.
The burgeoning rivalry between the clubs is no less intense in the men’s game.
Vikingur won the league in 2021 and 2023 with Breidablik in between.
They are managed by the former Bolton, Leicester and Stoke forward Arnar Gunnlaugsson, who also played for KR when they were defeated by Shelbourne on away goals in 2004, the start of a memorable run by Pat Fenlon’s side.
When told by Andrews that he is going to be speaking to an Irish journalist, Gunlaugsson jokes for him to give ‘the Icelandic Gianluca Vialli’ a mention.
And the truth is that the Hoops are not going to have it any easier this time than they did last year.
Andrews said: “Before they played Breidablik, someone from Ireland called me and asked me about them and I said they’re a good side and they’ve a naturalised Serb Damir Muminovic who plays for Iceland, is a brilliant centre-half and he has a hammer shot.
“He ended up scoring a brilliant free-kick to win in Tallaght and then of course they beat them again in the return leg.
“The reaction to Vikingur being drawn against Shamrock Rovers was positive. The Icelandic people are very confident.
“I think all of the men’s squad bar one are full-time.
We have some really good coaches, they’re not going to be tactically outwitted and they’re not going to be bullied.
“It could be a really good tie because I know Stephen Bradley likes to play football and so does Arnar.”
With tools such as Wyscout, there will be no need for Gunnlaugsson to ask Andrews to call his Irish contacts to get the lowdown on Rovers.
He might, however, be able to provide insight into the mood in the opposition through a few calls, although he recalls an offer to help his hometown club Cork City, ahead of their meeting with KR in 2015, did not garner a response.
Andrews was previously on their books in the 2002-03 campaign, as well as Cobh Ramblers, and, more recently, returned home to do his Pro Licence through the FAI between 2019 and 2020 when Damien Duff, Robbie Keane, Andy Reid, Keith Andrews and Paddy McCarthy were all classmates.
He recalled: “Duffer was at Celtic and I asked him to send me over some analysis plans which he did.
He blotted out all of the tactical info but a lot of what we were doing was similar to them.”
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED BY
Although Duff has opted to pursue his coaching career with Shelbourne, Andrews is well settled in Iceland.
Bar a year in India, Andrews has been in Iceland since 2008, buying his own place there in 2022.
With good reason. Both he and his assistant are full-time.
The women’s League of Ireland offers no such possibilities.
The facilities are better and he said rumours of the country’s demise after its financial crash were exaggerated.
He recalled: “I had people from home ringing me asking was I eating out of bins.
“I think it just meant some Icelandic families had four foreign holidays a year instead of six.”
The climate is challenging but he has learned to adapt.
He said: “From November to the end of March is pretty difficult but I think I’ve had to cancel only four or five sessions in three years because of the weather.
“All of the artificial pitches have underheating so if you know you’ve a session on later in the day you just whack on the heating a few hours beforehand.
“It can be minus 16 or 17 but it’s a dry cold so it doesn’t get into your bones like Ireland.
“You just counteract it with more clothes.
“Necessity is the mother of invention and the Icelandic people have a great capacity for handling things.
“The weather is awful so they know they can’t play on grass for eight months so they just adapt and don’t let the weather and horrible conditions interfere.
“When the snow comes people don’t complain, ‘Oh Jesus, here comes the snow’.
“You can see the joy on their faces.
And the weather doesn’t affect the kids.
“They don’t sit indoors watching TV, they make use of the facilities, are full of energy and so motivated and energetic coming to training.
“It’s a good and rewarding place to live.”