World Cup Champions for a Day

While the world fawns over Spain, England and Brazil, decries the state of Argentina, and looks curiously at Portugal, the story of the international qualifiers goes unnoticed.

A handful of amateur carpenters, fisherman and laborers, in amongst a few professionals, won a football game yesterday. It wasn’t a big game, or a particularly meaningful one in the grand scheme, but it was an official game, and that’s something. For a tiny island nation of 48,000 it means the first competitive victory since 2001, and one of only a few in their history.

And perhaps this is what’s so wonderful about World Cup qualifying: not the promise of the world’s greatest tournament, but rather the fight of the teams with no chance. The teams who will never taste a major tournament, filled with players who will never go on display for that big money move, watched by fans who will never bestow the weight of expectation. For them every game is a singular moment in history, not merely one stop on a lengthy journey. Every single game is their World Cup, and the Faroe Islands are champions for a day.

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