5 : Iceland
A country known for it’s volcanoes, Iceland has burst onto the World Cup scene like a volcano, finishing 2nd with 17 points. Iceland has never made it to a major footballing competition before, and if they make it this time around, they will be the smallest country to ever play in the World Cup.
A remarkable fact about Iceland’s qualifying campaign is that they’ve scored more goals than teams like Spain, France and Croatia. For their sake, they’d like to avoid nations like France, Sweden and Portugal in the draw. However, with players such as Eidur Gudjonssen and Gylfi Sigurdsson, they shouldn’t be taken lightly. The opposition may struggle to cope with the icy conditions there, giving Iceland a huge chance to take control of the tie at home.
It has the making of a great story if Iceland do make it. The tears of the 300,000 odd people there will be filled with joy. Expect a motivated performance from the Icemen in these 2 games. Rio may be geographically far away for them, but it feels really close to let all their hard work go to waste.