06-27-2016, 09:18 PM
I realize most of us do not follow soccer at all, but I just watched the 2nd half of the Iceland/England match in the Euro Championship, and it was pretty inspiring.
06-27-2016, 09:18 PM
06-28-2016, 09:05 AM
(06-27-2016 09:18 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote: [ -> ]I realize most of us do not follow soccer at all, but I just watched the 2nd half of the Iceland/England match in the Euro Championship, and it was pretty inspiring.
Sorry I missed the game. What a great story for Iceland, a country with only 330K residents.
06-28-2016, 01:35 PM
PARIS — Almost a tenth of Iceland’s entire population was standing in the stadium in southern France. Arms aloft and clapping rhythmically above their heads; they were bearing witness to a moment of sporting immortality that ranks alongside the Jamaican bobsled team and the 1980 U.S. ice-hockey team’s “Miracle on Ice.”
The volcanic island north of the European mainland has roughly the same number of residents as Toledo, Ohio. “The Land of Fire and Ice” is the smallest nation ever to qualify for a major international soccer tournament.
On Monday night, they stunned the world by comfortably beating England at the UEFA Euro 2016 soccer championships. All of their opponent’s players grace the game’s richest league, which is beamed live to more than a billion global viewers from the “Home of Football.”
Coming from a goal down to win 2-1, it was easily the greatest moment in Icelandic sporting history.
That’s an honor to which this extraordinary group of players is becoming accustomed. Six months ago, the nation’s all-time sporting high point was qualifying for this tournament. Last week, it was grabbing a hard-fought draw against top-tier soccer power Portugal. Each of these was greeted with joyful, unprecedented celebrations on the pitch and back home.
The volcanic island north of the European mainland has roughly the same number of residents as Toledo, Ohio. “The Land of Fire and Ice” is the smallest nation ever to qualify for a major international soccer tournament.
On Monday night, they stunned the world by comfortably beating England at the UEFA Euro 2016 soccer championships. All of their opponent’s players grace the game’s richest league, which is beamed live to more than a billion global viewers from the “Home of Football.”
Coming from a goal down to win 2-1, it was easily the greatest moment in Icelandic sporting history.
That’s an honor to which this extraordinary group of players is becoming accustomed. Six months ago, the nation’s all-time sporting high point was qualifying for this tournament. Last week, it was grabbing a hard-fought draw against top-tier soccer power Portugal. Each of these was greeted with joyful, unprecedented celebrations on the pitch and back home.