Everybody likes an underdog. Such is the case with the Icelandic football team. Twenty-one years ago, we won against the seemingly unbeatable French team by scoring a goal early in the first half. Technically, the game ended in a draw, but it was the kind of draw that you brag about for two decades straight. And that’s what we did. Scoring a point against France is a big deal.
On Friday Night, we hoped that history would repeat itself. We hoped that once again, we would score a point against France in the first half and spend the rest of the game behind the defensive line, blocking passes and keeping them away from our goal. But, in the words of Margaret Atwood, history does not repeat itself. It rhymes. We came close many times, but didn’t quite make the goals. Or any goal. We made them suffer for a little over an hour before France finally got one in. It was a fabulous game, and we should be proud of the way we played. Tonight, we have a chance to redeem ourselves against Andorra. That should be no trouble for us, as we’ve won every game against them up until now.
In November, we will fly to Turkey to square off against their football team once again. Back in June, a Belgian reporter met the Turkish team at Keflavík with a dishwashing brush, to which the team took great offence. The Icelandic team won the match against Turkey that night.
On Saturday night, the Turkish team scored the winning point and gave a military salute to Albania, a highly politicised and controversial gesture. UEFA is looking into this stunt.
Can we expect to see something tonight in the same vein as a cleaning brush in the faces of our opponents, or some other less subtle political statement? If history rhymes, then maybe. And if history repeats itself, perhaps we’ll win. Áfram Ísland!
Formerly, we printed this article saying we had a chance to redeem ourselves against Turkey on October 14th. Obviously that was not the case, as we were playing Andorra. And of course we smote them. Áfram Ísland!
Buy subscriptions, t-shirts and more from our shop right here!
