REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) - Iceland has selected playmaker Gylfi Sigurdsson and captain Aron Gunnarsson in its 23-man squad for the World Cup in Russia even though both midfielders are out injured.
Sigurdsson, Iceland’s star player, has been out with a knee injury since early March and will miss the final game of the English Premier League on Sunday for Everton.
Gunnarsson is recovering after undergoing knee surgery in late April.
Iceland made the squad announcement in a video on YouTube on Friday.
With about 330,000 inhabitants, the Nordic country is comfortably the smallest to ever qualify for the World Cup. Two years ago, Iceland played in the European Championship for the first time and got to the quarterfinals, famously eliminating England along the way.
Iceland will be in Group D with Argentina, Nigeria and Croatia.
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