Friday 17 October 2014

Gylfi Sigurdsson - King of Iceland

Josh Kilmister on how our man was very much the star of this week’s European Qualifiers (just in case you've been living in a cave for the last week)



Gylfi Sigurdsson in action for the Swans

Iceland vs Netherlands had been billed as a match with only one possible outcome. It wasn't to be though - 2012 Champions League winner Arjen Robben and the ever-aging Robin van Persie were left frustrated by the acts of a man who goes by the name of Gylfi Sigurdsson - the king of Iceland! Okay, perhaps he’s not king just yet, but he certainly ruled over the Dutch boys the other night. The Iceland number ten slotted past Ajax shot-stopper Jasper Cillessen twice, leading his team to a 2-0 victory. 

His first goal was a pin-point accurate penalty into the right-hand side of the net. His second was, lets just say ‘Sigurdsson-esque’. A volley into the roof of the net saw my Twitter feed explode with Vines of the goal, (and rather funny Vines of Kevin Phillips failing miserably to pronounce ‘Gylfi Sigurdsson’ last season!) and what a goal it was! Unsurprisingly, Gylfi received the man of the match award and was even praised by the Swans’ Dutch director John van Zweden! His tweet reads: “Gylfy Sigurdsson #SWANSEACITY Man of the Match today- #Holland 2-0 and 2 goals... Proud moment for a Proud Jack!” Okay maybe he spelt his name wrong, but it’s the thought that counts!


For me, there’s positives and negatives from our players performing on such a big stage. The positives are perhaps more obvious but on a more selfish level, Gylfi’s performance last night is only going to attract more interest from clubs elsewhere. It will definitely add a few quid onto his price tag too, and if he carries on replicating his international form for the Swans, he has my permission to score as many goals for Iceland as he wants.

Not only do players like Gylfi attract interest to themselves, but to the club. There wasn’t one post-match report I read that didn’t contain something along the lines of‘Swansea City midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson’, and with Huw looking for investment from abroad, this does us no harm whatsoever! 

The goals he scored for Iceland this international break were Sigurdsson’s third and fourth in three games for his country, which along with his Premier League form has Spurs fans wondering why on earth they let him go in a deal for Ben Davies, who rarely makes their Starting XI, and Michel Vorm who struggles to even make the bench. It beats me but hey, I’m not complaining!

Neither am I Josh, and I don't think any Swansea fans will be either! Thanks to Josh for this, his latest piece - give him a follow on Twitter @JoshKilmister

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