A BRADFORDIAN living in Iceland has predicted England will win tonight’s clash between the two nations at Euro 2016.
Farooq Ahmed, 45, who was born in West Bowling but now lives in Iceland’s capital city, Reykjavik, is looking forward to the last 16 clash between the two countries.
But the match is causing divided loyalties within his own family as his football crazy son, Omar, 17, was born in Iceland and will be supporting England’s opponents.
They will be watching the match together with thousands of fellow football fans at a big screen in Reykjavik.
But despite their divided loyalties, they do agree on one thing regarding the beautiful game is their support of Arsenal.
Farooq moved to Iceland 18 years ago where he works as a hotel manager.
He is looking forward to a tight game between the two nations but is confident of an English victory and a quarter-final tie for his home country.
“I’m looking forward to the game," he said.
“I think England will win 2-1 and Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane are going to do it and will be our goalscorers.
“If we lose I’m worried I will get more grief. Not from the Icelandic people, but from the Scots, there is a large ex-pat community living in Iceland.
“The Icelandic people seem happy to have got this far in the tournament.
“Iceland have a few dangerous players. Gylfi Sigurdsson, who plays for Swansea City, is a very good player.
“When I watch the game tonight, I will be one of the few people with an England top on.
“Iceland have impressed me so far. It won’t be an easy game.
“I personally believe it will be a tight game, England will win eventually but, in football, it is the year of the unexpected and the underdog after Leicester City won the Premier League this season," he said.
“I was born in Bradford and still have my parents, siblings and relatives living there.”
But, Omar, who was born in Iceland, disagrees with his father and thinks his native land will be victorious.
He said: “It’s a big game for both England and Iceland. I’m excited about the game and we will see how it goes. I’m going for Iceland to win 2-1.
“My dad is obviously going to be supporting England though.”
Kick-off is at 8pm and the match will be shown ITV.
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