Reykjavík Grapevine - 23.05.2008, Blaðsíða 20

20 | Reykjavík Grapevine | Issue 06 2008 | Article
Every two years life becomes just a
little bit more bearable and a little
less depressing. That’s because we ei-
ther witness a World Cup soccer final,
or a European Cup final. This year it’s
the European finals, starting on June
8. Until then we’ll have to make good
with the local premier leagues, which
kicked off on May 12.
Since then three rounds have
been played of not so majestic soccer in
the men’s premier league. Each spring,
every club manager in the premier divi-
sion states that the winter has been put
to good use; his men have trained long
and hard resulting in the team being in
the best shape it has ever been in. But
then each year we are treated to soccer
in the opening games that looks as if the
players have spent the winter lounging
around on their sofas, trying out a new
training plan based on watching TV
and eating chips. Slowly as the summer
progresses the quality increases and by
the end of the year we might even see
some soccer that wouldn’t embarrass
us in the unlikely event that proper soc-
cer playing nations would take notice.
The fact of the matter is that Ice-
landers aren’t any good at soccer. FIFA,
the world governing body of this no-
blest of all sports, ranks the Icelandic
men’s national team at 85, just above
Togo and immediately below Ghana.
The ladies do a lot better, being ranked
at number 19 and outclassing nations
as soccer savvy as Belgium, Argentina
and the Czech Republic.
This should come as no surprise
really (except the women’s high stan-
dard) as after all, Iceland is a small,
young nation that lives with a climate
that isn’t exactly suitable for a game
played on grass and in shorts (why we
also suck at hockey is a true mystery
though). These facts do not, however,
stop Icelanders from wildly speculating
about our soccer abilities. Each time
the national teams start out playing in
the qualifiers for the two big tourna-
ments, the Icelandic consensus is that
this time around we will surely reach
the finals, if not be crowned champi-
ons.
But enough about the winning
obsessions of the Icelandic nation, let’s
take a look at the first rounds of the pre-
mier leagues.
As not predicted in the last issue
of Reykjavik Grapevine, Fjölnir sits on
the top of the men’s division with 3
wins. Newcomers to the league, they
managed to beat the favourites KR
2-1 with a last minute goal. In second
place, also with 3 wins, is the Keflavík
team. They managed a highly surpris-
ing win against last year’s champions
Valur in the first round 5-3. Valur came
back in the second round, totally out-
playing Grindavík with a 3-0 win, just
to lose to Fylkir 0-2 in the third round,
putting them in the bottom half of the
division, along with KR and Fylkir – all
with 3 points. In the top half FH, FRAM
and Breiðablik divide places 3 to 6. At
the bottom with no wins Grindavík and
HK share places 11 and 12. Just above,
Þróttur sits in tenth place with 2 points.
The next two weeks will bring
some interesting match ups. Valur
plays top team Fjölnir on Sunday the 25
at 19:15, the first home game of Valur
at their new pitch at Hlíðarendi. Ex-
pect a large crowd and a festive mood.
Reykjavík giants KR and FRAM meet
on June 2, also at 19:15. This is a true
Derby-match, with tensions running
high on both sides. If you’d rather like
to venture out of town, then Grindavík
welcomes FH on June 2 at 19:15.
Check www.soccerway.com for a full
schedule.
Text by Páll Hilmarsson, sports commen-
tator; Photo by GAS
Kick Off!
Team W D L Points
1 Fjölnir 3 0 0 9
2 Keflavík 3 0 0 9
3 FH 2 1 0 7
4 Fram 2 0 1 6
5 Breiðablik 1 2 0 5
6 ÍA 1 1 1 4
7 KR 1 0 2 3
8 Valur 1 0 2 3
9 Fylkir 1 0 2 3
10 Þróttur R. 0 2 1 2
11 Grindavík 0 0 3 0
12 HK 0 0 3 0
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