Faroese victory still an isolated success

Euroscene: Let us take the clock back 14 years to the Idrottsparken Stadium in Landskrona, Sweden. It was there on September 12th, 1990 the Faroe Islands arrived on the international football scene with an astonishing 1-0 European Championship "home" win over Austria in their first official qualifying game.

A wood trader called Torkil Nielsen scored the goal while goalkeeper Jens Martin Knudsen, a forklift truck driver famous for his white bobble hat, was a hero with a series of great saves. In Torshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands, the celebrations went on late into the night as locals rejoiced at the thought that no longer would their homeland (of 18 islands) be best known as being home to twice as many sheep as humans.

After a weekend of World Cup qualifiers when Portugal were held to a 2-2 draw by Liechtenstein (ranked 151st in world ranking), the Netherlands were held to a 2-2 draw by Macedonia (ranked 92nd) and Italy were beaten 1-0 by Slovenia, it may be worth recalling that even football minnows occasionally have their day.

Lest Brian Kerr is tempted to call on their local voodoo doctor to stave off the threat from the "Torshavn Terrors" tomorrow night, it had best be pointed out the victory over Austria remains the high point of the Faroe Islands' football experience. Since then, qualifying wins have been against teams such as Liechtenstein, Kazakhstan, San Marino and Luxembourg.

Nonetheless, if you want to get worried, think back to the Faroe Islands' Euro 2004 qualifying group. In September 2002, Scotland struggled against them in Torshavn, coming from 2-0 down to pull off a 2-2 draw. Ten months later, in Torshavn, Germany's embarrassment was hardly less as they scored twice in the last two minutes for a 2-0 win. The Faroe Islands picked up their first point of this qualifying group when drawing 2-2 away to Cyprus on Saturday in a game in which they went from 1-0 down to 2-1 up only to concede an 82nd-minute equaliser.

Having said all of that, though, the reality is that, far from their island homes, the Faroe men (Faroese, according to FIFA) usually do not represent a threat. That is not to say "Faroese" football has not come a long way since that win over Austria.

They now have a proper grass pitch. In 1990, the tie with Austria had to be played in Sweden because there were no grass pitches. If you happen to live out in the windy, wet north Atlantic, somewhere between Iceland, Scotland and Norway, then the maintenance of a decent grass pitch is no easy matter.

Second, the quality of Faroe Islands players has improved, notwithstanding the limitations of a population of 48,000. Against Austria, the team was a rare old mix of fishermen, sheep farmers, butcher, baker and candlestick maker. Nowadays, even if two thirds of the squad still come from Faroe clubs, Danish coach coach Henrik Larsen can call on Suni Olsen of Dutch club FC Zwolle, Anders Floetum of Danish side Fremad Amager and Coventry City's Claus Beck Jorgensen, who scored the second goal on Saturday.

By international standards, though, the sum of the Faroe Islands' parts remains extremely modest, certainly not strong enough to give Ireland any real cause for concern. Yet, just try telling that one to Marcello Lippi, Marco van Basten and Felipe Scolari, the respective coaches of Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal.

It may be true Slovenia and Macedonia can no longer be considered minnows. Slovenia qualified for Euro 2000 as well as the last World Cup finals while Macedonia had already pulled off a 2-2 Euro 2004 qualifier draw away to England. But, what do we make of Liechtenstein? After their draw with Portugal in Liechtenstein, captain Daniel Hasler said the result was "a dream come true" and represented "emotion in its purest state".

Here's hoping the Faroese will not be celebrating any "dreams come true" or "pure-state" emotions in Dublin tomorrow night.