MOSCOW - Attention, American soccer fans: Iceland's prime minister wants your support.
The United States is absent from the World Cup for the first time since 1986, which means up to 325 million Americans are temporarily free agents.
Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir said her island nation about 900 miles off Norway's coast is the perfect pick for their passion. With just 350,000 residents, Iceland is the least populous country ever to qualify soccer's quadrennial showcase.
"We can do with more supporters. We absolutely need them," she said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. "We've got a lot of support from people around the world. I think a lot of people like the way the Icelandic team played. I think the team spirit really was something that people liked."
Costa Rica, Egypt, Morocco, Peru and Saudi Arabia were already out of contention for the knockout stage after Friday's matches, and Argentina is on the verge of elimination. Still, alluring alternatives remain for those unsure how to release their pent-up fervor with no red, white and blue - at least of the U.S. variety - to support.
About 200,000 tickets were bought by American residents for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, second behind only the host nation and up from approximately 130,000 four years earlier in South Africa. The United States remains second this year, but the total is down to approximately 87,000, FIFA said. That means more soccer fans back home.
Reyka Vodka set up viewing parties in a dozen or so states to recruit fans for "Strakarnir Okkar," the nickname of Iceland's "Our Boys." Viet Lam, a 35-year-old emergency room pharmacist from Seattle, was at The George & Dragon Pub to watch Iceland's 2-0 loss Friday to Nigeria, which started at 8 a.m. PDT. He first visited Iceland in 2013 and has gone back two more times.
"I just fell in love with it. It was my first solo trip ever," he said. "I was gone for seven weeks, and it was first stop. The landscape doesn't look like anything else."
Former American soccer star Landon Donovan is part of Wells Fargo's "Vamos Mexico" marketing campaign, proclaiming on a scarf: "My other team is Mexico." The 35-year-old hopes El Tri can reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 1986.
"I find myself rooting for Mexico, having been there and seeing how the people have suffered over the years with this fifth game," Donovan said. "I think if fans need a team to get behind, they can get behind Mexico and hope to see that happen."
Given that Mexico is the Americans' biggest rival, Donovan's ads provoked an angry riposte. Former U.S. forward Taylor Twellman, now ESPN's lead soccer analyst, posted on Twitter "I'd rather cut off my toe than root for" before using an image of the Mexican flag to complete the tweet.
Donovan responded by saying his "heart bleeds red, white and blue, and no one should ever question my allegiance to and support of U.S. Soccer and its national teams," but he reiterated that with no American team to cheer, he will pull for Mexico.
The American Outlaws supporters group chartered two Boeing 767s from Houston to take 530 fans to Brazil in 2014, and the U.S. Soccer Federation said it sold its official allotment of about 2,000 tickets. This time?
"AO didn't organize anything," co-founder Korey Donahoo said.
Mexico has the biggest base for attracting U.S. fan affection. Among 43 million foreign-born U.S. residents in 2015, 11.58 million were born in Mexico, according to the Pew Research Center. The next seven-highest totals were all countries that failed to reach the World Cup: China, India, the Philippines, El Salvador, Vietnam, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
South Korea was ninth at 1.06 million. World Cup teams included Colombia (13th at 698,000), Germany (16th at 577,000), Peru (17th at 451,000), Ecuador (18th at 441,000), Poland (19th at 417,000), Iran (20th at 392,000), Russia (21st at 389,000), England (28th at 318,000) and Iceland (149th at 4,400).
In Reykjavik, Jakobsdottir hoped to see purple jerseys throughout the world.
"If I can say something about the Icelandic team, which I think also is part of the Icelandic national psyche," she proclaimed, "is that we never give up hope."