Samba vs Kilts, and Other Early Morning Dilemmas - Or what happens when you can't sleep and have too many teams to love
- evennow
- Jun 6
- 6 min read
Updated: Jun 10
There are moments, usually somewhere between 4am and the first birdsong of the morning, when my mind does its most interesting work. Not the worried kind of thinking, just the wonderfully random, associative kind, where one thought leads to another, leads to another, and somehow leads to a blog post.
Last night, well, this morning, it was football. Specifically, I was trying to work out when my teams are playing at the World Cup.
My teams. Plural. Yes, I know.
I should explain. Having Finnish and German heritage, having grown up in Germany and called England home for many years now, and having a Scottish partner from Glasgow called David, I am not exactly short of national allegiances. And with the 2026 FIFA World Cup now finally upon us, across the USA, Canada and Mexico, this particular identity dilemma has been sitting in my early morning thoughts like a very cheerful uninvited guest.
Because here is the thing about national identity that has fascinated me all my life, as a true citizen of the world: countries, like people, have a personality. And football, more than almost any other sport, holds up a mirror to it.
Take England and Germany. Efficient, serious, with a long history and deeply uncomfortable when things get chaotic. The difference? The English have developed an extraordinary coping mechanism in the form of black humour and a cup of tea and David's immortal phrase "yeah, but we won the war - put the kettle on!" And then there is the small matter of the House of Windsor, which is, of course, of entirely German descent, though one does not bring this up at dinner. Germany, meanwhile, is doing everything in its power to dissolve its own national identity, and I say this as someone who carries German blood and loves Germany in the sense of the land of poets and thinkers, 'das Land der Dichter und Denker'. I am proud of that Germany. The other one I am watching with a heavy heart.
And the football reflects it perfectly. Nobody fears Germany the way they used to. That quiet, unshakeable certainty that somehow, some way, they would make it to the final has quietly left the building. England and Scotland, meanwhile, carry a belief that is not about history or rankings. It is about something older and fiercer than that.
Which brings me to the small nations, and to where my soul truly sings.
Scotland, Ireland, Finland. These three share something that goes far deeper than geography, or green landscapes, or ancient forests, although all of those are part of it too. They are nations forged by centuries of being pressed upon by a larger neighbour and absolutely refusing to be extinguished. Finland was under Swedish rule for over 800 years, and to this day the two nations meet on the ice hockey rink with the kind of intensity that no commentary can fully explain. The Scots and the Irish know this particular story in their own way. It makes them fierce and funny and deeply, unshakeably themselves. Look at the Rugby. There is a reason the Haka works for the All Blacks. It is not a strategy. It is a soul statement. Scotland and Finland carry that same quality, that unspoken declaration: we are still here, and we are not going anywhere. In Finnish, we call it SISU. In Scotland, they do not have a word for it, because it has never occurred to them that it needed one.
I felt this the first time I visited Ireland and Scotland. I felt immediately at home, in the green, in the quiet, in the fire underneath the friendliness. My body recognised something my mind had not yet named.
Now, the night Scotland qualified for their first World Cup in 28 years is the kind of night that I will not forget in a hurry. I watched the whole thing and nearly had a heart attack. Three minutes in, Scott McTominay threw himself into the air and executed an overhead kick so perfect, so audacious, so completely and utterly Scottish in spirit, that even the Scotland manager Steve Clarke described it afterwards as the best overhead kick he had ever seen, and then added that it might not even have been the best goal of the night. Scotland beat Denmark 4-2 with two goals in stoppage time, topped their qualifying group for the first time in over 40 years, and the Bank of Scotland marked the moment with a limited edition £20 note featuring McTominay's goal. Only one hundred were printed. I want one.
And now Scotland face Brazil. In Miami. At 11pm UK time on 24 June. David will be watching every single second. I, wearing my German shirt and sitting next to him, will be rooting loudly for Scotland, because that is the kind of World Cup this is turning out to be. Samba vs kilts and bagpipes. All of Brazil's silky magic against eleven people who have waited 28 years for this moment and have absolutely nothing to lose. If that is not the setup for the greatest upset of the tournament, I do not know what is. The Romans, after all, took one look north at the Scots and decided to build a wall. Just saying.
So yes, I have placed a bet on each of my teams to win the final. Finland would have been on that list too, but they did not qualify for the football, and they were rather busy winning the ice hockey world championship instead, thank you very much, beating Switzerland 1-0 in overtime just last week. Perhaps the SISU is being saved for something even bigger next time. 🇫🇮🦁🏒🥅🏆🥇
My 4am conclusion, arrived at somewhere between checking fixture lists and listening to the first birds, is this: I do not have a problem with having too many teams. I have the gift of belonging to many places, and I back all of them, because all of them are part of who I am. I am German by blood, Finnish by soul, and very happily British by choice.
Which brings me, with perfect timing, to my new Live2Live hoodie, which I have been wearing all of this week. Live2Live. Or, as I have started reading it in my own head: live to luve.
When I first arrived in England in 1990, fresh-faced at 18 and apparently speaking with an American accent, I spent days completely baffled by the word "luv." "Oh, that's luvely!" "Hi luv!" It took me embarrassingly long to realise that luv simply meant love, spoken in the warm, unpretentious way of the north of England and Scotland. And now David uses it sometimes, when he slips into his Glasgow voice, and it colours my entire day.
Live to luve. Live to live. Live to love. All of the above, all at once.
That, in the end, is the only philosophy I need. And whether it is a bicycle kick in the third minute, a Finnish goalkeeper shutting out the world, or eleven kilted Bravehearts facing the Samba, what moves me is always the same thing underneath: the courage to show up completely as yourself, in all your beautiful, specific, irreducible identity, and to love every version of yourself that got you here.
Even at 4am. Especially at 4am.
Set the alarm for 11pm on 24 June. 🏴⚽🇧🇷
If national identity, soul belonging and finding your place in the world are themes that resonate with you, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Love and light, Tanya
PS: And in case you are also lying awake at 4am wondering the same thing, here is what started it all. The fixtures that launched a thousand early morning thoughts. Finland, I have taken the liberty of including you anyway, because you are always in my heart, even if you are busy with other trophies. 🇫🇮🏒🥇
🏴 England - Group L
Date Match UK Time
Wed 17 June England vs Croatia 9:00pm
Tue 23 June England vs Ghana 9:00pm
Sat 27 June Panama vs England 10:00pm
🇩🇪 Germany - Group E
Date Match UK Time
Sun 14 June Germany vs Curaçao 6:00pm
Sat 20 June Germany vs Ivory Coast 9:00pm
Thu 25 June Ecuador vs Germany 9:00pm
🏴 Scotland - Group C
Date Match UK Time
Sun 14 June Haiti vs Scotland 2:00am
Fri 19 June Scotland vs Morocco 11:00pm
Wed 24 June Scotland vs Brazil 11:00pm
🇫🇮 Finland - Group N/A
Date Match UK Time
TBA Finland vs Everyone In our hearts 🏒🥇
PPS: For those who want the full 4am experience: here is the soundtrack playing in my head while all of this unfolds. Chris de Burgh's "Oh My Brave Hearts," because some songs know exactly what they are doing. "Tämä Taivas, Tämä Maa" by Jukka Kuoppamäki, because it's Finland. And finally, Chris de Burgh's song "Brazil." A little samba, a little soul, and a full circle back to where we started. You are welcome. 😊🎵
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