Víkingur

Contrary to the forecast, the sun broke through mid-morning, so I walked to the park and back to stretch my legs. After lunch and more marking, I watched a tremendous game of football between KÍ and Víkingur. As well as being the local derby, in recent years they have been the top two teams in the Faroes. Víkingur are from the neighbouring island of Eysturoy, and arrived with a 100% record in the league (after 8 games). When they took the lead after 5 minutes, I feared another slack performance from KÍ, but the game turned when the Víkingur scorer injured a hamstring after 30 minutes, and had to go off. KÍ equalised within a minute, and started to play as if they believed they could win. I was near the ultras in the stand and joined in the increasingly vocal chanting. Towards the end, Víkingur started to look dangerous again, but KÍ scored a scrappy goal in the 86th minute to win the game! 

Tonight the sporting focus turns to handball, when the Faroe Islands take on North Macedonia for a place in the World Cup Finals. They won the first leg 34-27 in Tórshavn on Wednesday evening, so there are real hopes for an aggregate victory. It's no fluke, as the Faroe Islands played in the last European Championship and, as I learned from the Vestmanna bus driver, they have the world's best junior player.

Update: having watched the first half online, I went to the pub with North Macedonia leading 19-15. Although I did chat with a couple of guys, it was slightly surreal to watch a game whose details I don't know, surrounded by people yelling in a language I don't understand. The Faroe Islands lost 34-26, so went out 61-60 on aggregate. I guess they regret not being able to beat such a small country as North Macedonia: it's only 30 times the population of the Faroes.