I think you had to live in a cave in our neck of the woods to miss the news that Albania qualified for the first time ever for a Euro Cup tournament this summer.
VIA Nashana and Hannah pose with Ellie and Reni and a cardboard cut out of the national team at a nearby shopping mall.
Sales of Albanian soccer jerseys and related gear were through the roof... and available for sale about anywhere that had a cash register. And given that we hardly found any two identical jerseys was proof of the number of knock-offs floating around the market!
Naturally we showed all three matches at our center. And as one commentator stated, Albania was just glad to be at the party and would be happy regardless the outcome. I think the team defied expectations (we qualified by the skin of our teeth, to begin with). We were tied with France (who ultimately made it to the finals) until the 89th minute of play, then eventually lost 0-2. We defeated Romania 1-0 for our first ever goal in international tournament play (boy oh boy was the celebration huge and that goal re-played over and over and over again), and lost to Switzerland 0-1. The top 16 teams advanced and Albania was #17. Too bad for that 2nd point France scored in stoppage time!
Here we all are, showing off our double-headed eagles!
Of course, any excuse to play with fire... Some celebratory flares...
The Euro Cup will definitely be a big memory from the summer of 2016!
1 comment:
We also did support Albania, just not against our country Switzerland. But Albania was great. I was thinking that it was a great moment for the country. Very sad they did not keep the 0:0 against France.
by the way, I always appreciate to read your blogg
best regards Reg from Switzerland
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