Skip to main content

Icelandic Soccer

Shirt badge/Association crest

So the World Cup is fast upon us. Perhaps the most surprising entry into this year's field is the Iceland National Team. What a delight to have a team from a country that is home to around 400,000 people, and how wonderful that they actually have a shot....

One of the things I love most about soccer is that it's not a race that goes to the biggest and most wealthy. The US, arguably one of the wealthiest countries that has ever been, has a difficult time fielding teams - our US Women's Team is phenomenal and a perennial powerhouse, but the men's team is lackluster. I'm honestly more surprised that they go at all, ever, to any World Cup.

Here's the problem - and it's been a problem for years. Soccer in the US doesn't get the attention that other sports get. I'm talking about the big three - football, basketball, and baseball. We do well in the Summer Olympics, generally in the flashy sports like swimming and gymnastics... But in other events and in the Winter Olympics, it's a different story, and it's literally anyone's game.

Soccer, like these other sports, is a fairly low-cost sport. All you need is a ball (of whatever kind) and a couple of goal posts and you're in business. It's why countries that aren't super rich can do well - the infrastructure that's required to play a football game (especially the NFL) is just prohibitive for other countries to consider.



Sadly, the other issue facing soccer in the US is the lack of good coaching. My brother recently started in as a girl's soccer coach for a local high school. While there's no doubt that he's an amazing guy and probably a fantastic coach, he's not been groomed like the Icelandic teams' coaches have been.

Here's a link to an article on what I'm on about:

https://www.maxim.com/sports/iceland-world-soccer-powerhouse-2018-3

So, the US, which has 1000 times the population of Iceland (literally) and which should therefore have no problem finding players or coaches, finds itself behind the ball (pun intended) when it comes to this sport. Part of it is that we have other sports that provide diversion and FAR better salaries. That's where our priorities lie, and I don't see that changing.

So in the meantime, I'm rooting for Iceland. They've got a tough group/bracket... Here's hoping!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord!

The purpose of the Book of Mormon is to testify of Christ and bring souls to Him. Who can deny this who have read the book and pondered it's sacred import? My life has been blessed and I have come to know Christ through reading this holy book. I know that Christ lives and loves us. I know He is our Savior and Redeemer. I know that through His merits alone we are saved from an eternity of misery and woe. I know that He died for us. I know He lives for us, advocating our cause before the throne of the Almighty. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the Master, the Son of God, the great Jehovah. Blessed and praised be His Holy Name forever and ever! To Him be all glory, honor, and majesty to an eternal day! It is the atonement of Christ - His suffering and subsequent victory - that makes all of this possible. His grace is sufficient for all after all we can do. And make no mistake - we must do all in our power. But through Him and by Him we can and will overcome. I love H
2 comments
Read more

2020 - A retrospective

 There will no doubt be many retrospectives written about the year that was 2020. It was a tough year for most, a good year for many, and generally speaking a very interesting year. Which reminds me of the the old curse - may you live in interesting times. Because, you see - interesting does not always mean good. It does not mean better. It does not mean happy. It just means interesting. So to highlight just how interesting things were, I offer the following post about things that went on. Or didn’t went on. It’s not intended to be chronological, necessarily, or even accurate. It’s just some of my observations.... Let’s start with the pandemic. Pandemic is a word that was previously the realm of science fiction and/or horror writers (The Stand comes to mind). Late 2019 a disease was identified in Wuhan, China, which is a place I’d never heard of before. Apparently coming from some kind of exotic meat market, this strain of Coronavirus was something that the world hadn’t seen before. Ma
Post a Comment
Read more

Is this thing still on?

 Does anyone even blog anymore? I remember when it first got started and everyone was having a blog. I like writing, and I do a lot of it in my professional life, but not everything makes it onto this blog, which is where a lot of my personal thoughts come out. I put more into Facebook lately, too, because it's a little easier. But there's something to be said for this long-form writing exercise, and I think I will continue here periodically. You don't mind, do you? Well, in my last post I wrote about how difficult things were for me at the time. That changed in July when I finally got a job working for the State of Utah. I was the program manager for the moderate income housing database program, and that meant I worked from home a lot but also went in to Salt Lake when needed, mostly on the train. It was a good experience, for the most part, and I'm grateful for the things I learned even in the short time I was there.  In October I started working for Weber County in t
Post a Comment
Read more