Trip to Iceland Post #15: Iceland in the World Cup

We spent our fifth full day in Iceland on a self-guided walking tour of Reykjavik, the capital city of Iceland. We happened to be there on the day Iceland played their third, and final game, in the World Cup. Iceland making the World Cup was shocking and their tie against Argentina in the first game was even more shocking. They lost to Nigeria in the second game, so advancing to the knock-out rounds was unlikely, but not impossible when game three started. They played Croatia (which made it all the way to the World Cup final before losing to France). Toward the end of the day and the start of the game, we made our way to the city square with thousands of other fans and watched the game outdoors on the screen.

Wow! What an experience! It took time away from our sight seeing, but it was definitely worth it. Experiencing a soccer game with thousands of other local fans was an experience hard to describe without actually being there. Iceland is not a soccer power house, so who knows if/when they'll ever make the World Cup again. We just happened to be there while they were playing and made the most of it. There were a lot of tourists there, but definitely a large portion of the group was Icelandic. Many of the shops closed early for the game so employees could watch.

Iceland ended up losing 2-1, but the game was close and exciting. There were a few Croatia fans in the crowd and I was deeply impressed when the Icelandic crowd turned toward those Croatia fans and clapped to them at the end of the game. Very classy and shows there is still some hope for true civility in this world. A far cry from the nonsense taking place in the U.S. right now. But I digress. Back to the main topic. Wow, what an experience! I wish I could tell you to do the same thing, but it could be decades, if ever, before the opportunity presents itself again.