Euro 2016: Aron Gunnarsson’s prodigious long throw is a major threat to England after being honed by Chris Coleman and Cardiff City
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ICELAND are ready to attack England with a weapon made in Coventry and developed by Wales manager Chris Coleman.
Boss Roy Hodgson knows Aron Gunnarsson’s prodigious long throw is a major threat to the Three Lions.
It was from one such raid that Iceland scored their first goal in the crucial 2-1 victory over Austria that clinched their place in the last 16.
And the bearded Cardiff midfielder, 27, warned there is plenty more to come this evening.
He said: “My agent told Chris Coleman I could take long throw-ins before he signed me for Coventry eight years ago.
“I’ve been doing them ever since.
“We always used it at Coventry and we also used it at Cardiff when we were in the Premier League a couple of years ago.
“It’s a big weapon for us because Iceland have a lot of tall players who can head the ball.
“You just have to look at our record in the qualifiers — we scored a lot of goals from set-pieces.
“We don’t really practise that much but we have got Gylfi Sigurdsson, who can pinpoint a free-kick wherever you want it to go, and then there are my throw-ins.
“We have to use every strength to our advantage and hopefully this will work against England.
“The long throw has not been so common since the days of Rory Delap at Stoke. But if anybody has got it in their arsenal you should obviously still use it at every opportunity.”
Gunnarsson said it was the Icelandic love of handball that taught him how to launch them so long.
He added: “I used to play handball when I was younger.
“That’s where the strength and technique comes from. I only decided to go down the football route and focus on that when I was 15.
“It was a tough decision because handball is massive in Iceland and my family all follow the sport.
“My father is a big handballer, my brother Robert plays professionally for Hamburg in Germany and, though I don’t play it these days, I still watch it.”