FAROE FRIDAY: FOOTBALLERS FRIGHTEN FRANCE

I complain a lot here that almost all the English-language news about the Faroes online is about soccer. But this time, I think it's perfectly newsworthy.

Goal.com is reporting that France's soccer season may start a week early this year. The reason? The Faroe Islands Soccer Team. I'll explain.

France is one of the powerhouses of international soccer. The Faroe Islands is not. But in a match not that long ago, the Faroes held France scoreless for most of the game. France ended up winning... but still.

So now it's World Cup qualifying time, and France is several points behind the leaders in their group. And this August, they must travel north and face... the Faroe Islands. France's coach (pictured above) is worried the his team won't be in good enough condition for the match. So he's asking the domestic league to start the first week in August. That way, his players will have a couple of games under their belts before they face the mighty Faroese team.

Allow me to taunt the French for a moment: You're really afraid of the Faroe Islands? You've got some of the world's elite athletes, they've got a bunch of auto mechanics and school teachers. Looks like somebody's chicken, bok, bok, bok, bok. (I am also doing a chicken dance while I write this.)

No matter what the outcome, however, the Faroese team the French face won't be helmed by Colin Calderwood. A few weeks ago we reported that the Scottish footballer was hired as the Faroese National Team's head coach. In the past two weeks, the media reported that the deal was off. Then they reported that the deal was back on and that Calderwood was flying to the Faroes to sign the paperwork. Then the deal was off again. Oh well.

This week's Faroe Photo is a snowy image of Torshavn. A series of storms has dumped a lot of the white stuff on the Faroese capitol. And Faroe Man was there to get some pictures of the sunny aftermath. The large white building on the left side of the picture is the building housing the national TV and radio stations. Just thought you'd want to know.

Also, episode three of the podcast is online. You can listen on iTunes or download it from our blog, at http://faroepodcast.blogspot.com/.