No silverware for Danish Vikings at Hua Hin World Cup

Denmark in their 1-0 victory over the Swedish rivals

The Hua Hin World Cup was decided on Sunday with the host country Thailand taking home the gold in a nailbiter of a penalty shootout. The final featured Thailand and The Netherlands in a game that for most of the time was dominated by the technically very sound Thai players. Nevertheless, the Dutch managed to push the game in to a shootout but also here the Thais were too strong.

The World Cup also had Scandinavian representation. Finland, Sweden and Denmark where all featured at the tournament and especially Denmark had a lot of players from the Bangkok based Scandinavian Vikings team. The expectations were hopeful for the Danish team ahead of the tournament, but it wasn’t to be. After a decent first day of play the Danish team had two victories, two losses and a draw ahead of their last game on the day against Tanzania. A victory was a must against Tanzania, who had lost all its previous matches, if the Danish team was to go though to the winning playoffs. The game however didn’t play out as the Danes would have hoped. Tanzania managed to get them selves in front with a headed goal and in the only 15 minutes long matches of Hua Hin World Cup it is tough to fight you way back from being down. The Danish team managed to get an equalizer late in the second half and even had a couple of more chances to clinch the win but their finishing was just a little off. The draw was not enough reach the winning playoffs for the Danish team whose highlight was the 1-0 victory in the rivalry match against Sweden.

The two other Scandinavian teams Sweden and Finland, who each had a couple of Scandinavian Vikings scattered amongst them, managed to reach the playoffs with Sweden finishing highest at 4th place.

The tournament was concluded with a big dinner party where all the 16 teams were gathered to socialize and see the awards for the best players being handed out.

Next year the Hua Hin World Cup will be celebrating its 10th year anniversary and the Scandinavians will surely again be competing for the glory.

 

Big Scandinavian hopes for the World Cup this weekend in Hua Hin

This weekend the Scandinavian football pride of Thailand the “Scandinavian Vikings” will be fighting for the title at the Hua Hin World Cup. The Tournament which is played at the True Arena complex in Hua Hin will feature amateur national teams from 16 different nations.  The teams are primarily made up by expats living in Thailand.

It is the 9th times the 7 aside tournament is held,  and it is charactered by its short and intense matches which makes up for a competitive tournament that also invites for a lot of other social activities. Besides settling the bragging rights among expat Sunday-league-footballers in Thailand the tournament is also a charity event that collects money for the Jungle Aid charity organization.

The Scandinavian Vikings, who was founded in the early 80’s and has since then functioned as a network for football-loving Scandinavians in Thailand, will in the Hua Hin world cup compete as Denmark.

The expectations will be big for Denmark/Vikings. In the local “Bangkok Casual League” that the Vikings normally competes in the team has been in excellent form recently. The Vikings is unbeaten in this winter season and their current squad is very strong.

Follow the live streamed event here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClCusbteKZZCQS94FGsnIKw

The Danish captain for the Hua Hin World Cup, Simon Drejer, is, in his own way, also optimistic about the Danish chances at the tournament.

“We expect to repeat the success from 1992. We are in bad shape, we love Mc Donald and we basically already went on vacation. That being said, we of course believe that we can go all the way,” Simon says.

The tournament can be watched at the True Arena in Hua Hin or through live streaming on YouTube via. this link.

The Scandinavian Vikings is currently looking for sponsors so they can continue being a gathering point for football enthusiastic expats in Thailand. If you can help sponsor, please contact: Martin Lambertsen
Email: [email protected]

All the 16 national teams at Hua Hin World Cup 2021

About Lasse Sandholdt

ScandAsia Journalist • Scandinavian Publishing Co., Ltd. • Bangkok, Thailand

View all posts by Lasse Sandholdt

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