Our man in Russia is on his way home. A heart-breaking 2-1 loss to Croatia, coupled with Argentina’s win against Nigeria, meant that Iceland’s first-round exit from Russia was confirmed.
And that means Aron Gunnarsson will be on his way back to Cardiff – after a wee break, no doubt. With Iceland putting on a decent show in Russia, and many banking on them being dark horses, Aron will have drawn many approving glances – especially after his performance tonight.
With his contract almost up – is he Gunnar stay? Or is he Gunnar go? We rated his first performance – but not his second match (sorry, I was at a wedding) and we’ve rated his third and final performance for Iceland in Russia.
First Half
It was a typical first half performance from Aron. He operated in his usual role – anchoring the midfield. He was rarely seen away from screening his back four – taking on midfielders who broke through and picking up strikers who dropped deep. He got away with a foul early on – taking out a Croatia play from behind as he broke into the box – but rarely put a foot wrong. In fact, he almost scored a cracker on the stroke of halftime. The ball was laid back to him on the edge of the box and he hit a curling effort towards the top corner – but the Croatian goalie was equal to it.
Second Half
Iceland really grew into the game and looked the better side for large parts of the game. Unfortunately, it was Croatia who took the lead. It has to be said, Iceland’s midfield looked a little disjointed – Gunnar was picking up an advanced midfielder – and the Badelj was able to break into the box and fire home the deflected cross. But Iceland didn’t give up and Gunnar and his boys rallied. Some great long throws and some good football saw them get a penalty and draw level. But it wasn’t to be. Iceland looked leggy and they were all over the place. Croatia were able to kill the game late on. Gunnar’s second-half performance was much as the same as the first – he didn’t really put a foot wrong and made sure he did the simple things.
Is he Gunnar stay? Or is he Gunnar go?
He’s the last of the out of contract players we want to keep. I don’t think anyone would begrudge a decent move abroad but he did say he wanted to get us up and then he would reconsider. He’s been linked with moves to Turkey and I’m sure his performances here will have turned a few more heads. Cardiff City has about a week to turn a contract round – will he leave? I think he’s Gunnar go. If I had to call it now, I’d say he’ll take a week and then leave. I don’t want him too – but I think he can get a big enough move to tempt him.
I’ll happily eat my hat on this one – but it’s just my gut feeling.