Photo: AP
Iceland players will be allowed to have sex ahead of their World Cup match against Nigeria, as long as it’s with their wives, coach Heimir Hallgrimsson said on Thursday.
When an Icelandic reporter asked if sex was banned for members of the squad, Iceland captain Aron Gunnarsson said, laughing: “For the time being, yes.”
READ: Emre Can completes Juventus medical in Turin
Hallgrimsson interjected: “At least as long as the wives have not arrived. No, sex is not banned, it’s bullshit.”
Iceland’s players were due to be reunited with their families on Thursday in Volgograd where they face Nigeria on Friday in Group D, with one eye on the knockout phase after an impressive 1-1 draw with Argentina on Saturday.
Meanwhile Iceland winger Johann Berg Gudmundsson is very unlikely to recover from injury in time to play in the World Cup Group D game against Nigeria on Friday, coach Hallgrimsson said.
“He is getting better every day. He is good hands. I am not going to hide that it is very unlikely that he will play,” Hallgrimsson told reporters on Thursday.
Gudmundsson was substituted midway through the second half of Iceland’s surprise 1-1 draw with twice world champions Argentina on Saturday.
Hallgrimsson said the absence of the winger, who plays for Burnley in England’s Premier League, would not upset the balance of his team.
“We are not afraid. It will not change the plans that we have decided before this game,” he said.
Iceland playmaker Gylfi Sigurdsson, who recovered from injury in time for the World Cup and played against Argentina, is 100 percent fit.
