With Norway competing in its first World Cup in nearly 30 years, the 73rd annual Norwegian Day Parade in Bay Ridge was unusually lively.
“The great agony of the World Cup, for its most ardent fans, stems from its scarcity, like if Christmas came only every four years. That gap between tournaments — mulling missed chances, craving the high of competition, awaiting the opportunity to do it all again — can feel interminable. So imagine the angst of those forced to wait even longer than that. In New York, they are everywhere: soccer fans from around the globe enduring decades without the pleasure of seeing their teams on the biggest stage of the world’s most beloved sport. But there is only so much one can take. This month, a mass exhalation will ripple through the five boroughs, as the expansion of the tournament from 32 teams to 48 has blown open the doors of the World Cup to a crop of debutantes and otherwise long-absent nations. …”
NY Times