I personally dislike sportsball of all kinds. But I like my kids and I like Iceland. Back in 2016, both of my kids were on soccer teams. And Iceland almost made it to the World Cup. So that year, I paid a little bit of attention.
Since I’m blurry on the details of European soccer (or, let’s face it, youth rec leagues despite years as a reluctant soccer mom) I’ll quote Wikipedia:
Iceland reached its first major tournament, UEFA Euro 2016, after a qualification campaign which included home and away wins over the Netherlands. After advancing to the knockout stages of Euro 2016, Iceland defeated England in the Round of 16, advancing to the quarter-finals, where they lost to host nation France 5–2.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland_national_football_team
That doesn’t sound like much, but until about a decade earlier, it was impossible to play soccer year-round in Iceland because there were no indoor pitches. Playing against some of the best professional teams in the world, Iceland’s top soccer players all had day jobs.
It was just a coincidence that my husband and I were in Reykjavik on the day they team returned. We had no foreknowledge of the event and just happened to be walking around the neighborhood when it became apparent that something was going on. And that’s how I came to join in as all of Iceland came out to hail the conquering heroes.
Áfram Ísland!
