World Cup Fever
We're in the grips of World Cup fever here right now. Which might seem a tad strange. As Iceland doesn't even have a team playing in South Africa. Not that there's a chance we'll ever field a team in the World Cup. After all we're in Europe. I've always found our participation in global sports events somewhat. Interesting.
The Icelandic Olympic motto is "It's more important to participate, than to win" - sort of tells you all you need to know about our sports capabilities. Still, we managed to win a medal in a team sport in Beijing. You might say that it was one of the few things we've had to cheer about these last couple of years. But when it comes to football. We don't have much of a chance. Not at least as far as our mens team is concerned. Our women are doing fairly well. But being in the European league it's hardly likely we'll ever see our team advance. Having seen them playing, I'm not optimistic it's going to happen in my lifetime.
Now this doesn't diminish our interest in the South African event though.
There's been massive advertising campaigns here. There are World Cup related offers. On everything from TV's to fast food. There are dedicated shows on TV which analyze every game. Down into the minute details. Live broadcasts of the games. I've even discovered how I can watch it all live online. But since we don't have a team playing. We can just pick our own favorite from all the teams that are playing. We always like it if one of our Nordic friends are playing. This year we only have the Danish team in the competition. So we certainly hope to see them advance. For me it was more a matter of picking a team at random. So I decided to go with South Korea.
Not that I really knew much about the South Korean team. It's just that I've been reading a really interesting blog about South Korea these last few weeks. The Grand Narrative. I'll write more about it and a few other blogs I've been reading these last few months later. But it seems like in this World Cup the lesser known teams are the ones that are surprising the commentators. Not that I pretend to be a football expert. But the fun thing about these big global events. Is to get into the spirit. To allow yourself to be swept up in the euphoria of the event. So I'm enjoying the event. That's the whole point isn't it?
The Icelandic Olympic motto is "It's more important to participate, than to win" - sort of tells you all you need to know about our sports capabilities. Still, we managed to win a medal in a team sport in Beijing. You might say that it was one of the few things we've had to cheer about these last couple of years. But when it comes to football. We don't have much of a chance. Not at least as far as our mens team is concerned. Our women are doing fairly well. But being in the European league it's hardly likely we'll ever see our team advance. Having seen them playing, I'm not optimistic it's going to happen in my lifetime.
Now this doesn't diminish our interest in the South African event though.
There's been massive advertising campaigns here. There are World Cup related offers. On everything from TV's to fast food. There are dedicated shows on TV which analyze every game. Down into the minute details. Live broadcasts of the games. I've even discovered how I can watch it all live online. But since we don't have a team playing. We can just pick our own favorite from all the teams that are playing. We always like it if one of our Nordic friends are playing. This year we only have the Danish team in the competition. So we certainly hope to see them advance. For me it was more a matter of picking a team at random. So I decided to go with South Korea.
Not that I really knew much about the South Korean team. It's just that I've been reading a really interesting blog about South Korea these last few weeks. The Grand Narrative. I'll write more about it and a few other blogs I've been reading these last few months later. But it seems like in this World Cup the lesser known teams are the ones that are surprising the commentators. Not that I pretend to be a football expert. But the fun thing about these big global events. Is to get into the spirit. To allow yourself to be swept up in the euphoria of the event. So I'm enjoying the event. That's the whole point isn't it?
Ummæli