Top 5 teams

Would only like to see messi do well if argentina ditch maradona

To support
1. Us
2. England, first time they've been pushed down into second team status at a WC! Also, love it shove it back at the haters, especially that bloody Saville fellow
3. Aus, though wouldn't be upset if they bombed, just to shut up some of the 442 contributers
4. Ghana, I almost went there last year, but ended up in Malta instead
5. USA, dunno why

Hate
1. France-
2. Portugal
3. Italy
that'll do

For me....

1. New Zealand. Obviously.

2. Germany. Ancestory and that, both sad and very pleasing to see them pushed back to second team for the first time. Once NZ bow out in the quarter finals (hey, gotta be realistic) I'll no doubt focus all my energy on cheering Germany to victory.

3. The United States. Developed a soft spot for them in the group stages of 2002 World Cup, which they completmented with a gutsy performance against Mexico in Round 2. Since then they've been my second World-Stage-Competitive team after Germany. Third now.

4. Australia. Because football is the only sport where they are not our mortal enemies (not including War) so best to embrace it.

5. North Korea. Mainly just feel sorry for them because they're not allowed to watch TV and stuff.

WANT TO FAIL

1. France. What dicks, Ireland would have been the No.5 spot to be sure. (another 2002-group-stage-soft-spot-team)

2.Italy. Last world Cup, they, A: Knocked out Germany. B: Cheated Australia out. C: Said nasty things about Zidane's mother. D: Prevented me from winning big in the highschool sweepstakes where I had picked France from the beginning.

3. Netherlands. Don't like their Orange costume.

Want to fail:

America - Jerks, I despise American Football Commentators and Landon Donavon. Also, how after the confeds the 'murricans were all 'oh we are so much better than brazil at sawker'...

England - Because everytime they lose all their fans are like, we can't lose to you we're ENGLAND! Home of Football! Home of the greatest league! And it's sort of funny, in the same way I like to giggle when the All Blacks lose, because everyone is like, we can't lose we're NZ. Suppose I don't like teams who think they should win just because they have a fancy pants history

Still got the chip on your shoulder?

I had it in mind to support Football, sportsmanship and entertainment.

May the best team win.

 

1. All Whites

1. Aotearoa
even a draw would be great

2. Nigeria
I'm going to get a shirt with Obafemi Martins on the back of it. I will fly with the Super Eagles as we spectacular celebrate a howitzer left foot strike

3. Spain
it is a fact they play the best football. Hence I support their ascetic approach to the game.

4. Uruguay
they'll get the blame for cheating, kicking and thuggery. Despite nearly every other side having a history of nefarious tactics. Don't think of it as anti-football, think of it as an alternate reality.

5. Argentina
you can't cheer for Argentina and Uruguay. But Maradona press conference/circus could be the most entertainment we get in the tournament. plus I dig their short passing game when there not kicking, crying and diving

as for the other list
I'm a lover not a hater
but not England, Germany, Brazil, France
or Nth Korea for that odious regime

  

New Zealand

New Zealand
Netherlands
England
Maybe Australia

Hates:
- Brazil

LOVE
New Zealand
USA
England
Italy
Brazil

HATE
Germany
Argentina
France (just recently)

New Zealand
Ivory Coast
Portugal
Argentina
England

This. Problem is, if they don't do well, the Americans just ignore them.

NZ & GREECE

To be fair, I don't think it's the fans as much as the Press.

I dont understand why people hate Engalnd so much, they usually play reasonably  fair, don't dive that much or roll around on the ground, don't really bring the game into disrepute like so many others have in recent  times. With  respect to World Cup history  England have been involved in some pretty decent games France 82, Argentina 86, Cameroon and Germany 90, Argentina 98

Different sport.

Because they're English...and they don't exactly play pretty football.

And as for the diving comments...Gerrard? Rooney? No, they've never dived in their lives. Puh-lease.

Top 4 (No other favs):

• NZ
• Bafana - Born and lived there for 15 years. Was there when they won the ACON in '96 and always keep an eye on how they are doing.
• Germany - Fiance is German and have followed them closely in the last few tournaments
• Cameroon - I was 8 at the time of the 1990 WC and Cameroon caught my brother and my imagination. We would try and wear clothes that matched the Cameroon kit and played everday as Cameroon for ages.
  

SiNZ2009-11-26 17:25:22

OK. I'll start with the diving issues. My comment is meant to be sarcastic - in fact, Gerrard and Rooney both dive A LOT. Owen is not immune to it, the one instance I can think of the top of my head is the 2002 World Cup game against Argentina. My point is that the English player dive as much and as often as players from the continent/Latin America/Africa, but somehow this gets lost in the grand "English players play hard and fair" narrative, which is clearly a fallacy. So to uphold the English team as some sort of standard bearers of moral integrity in football seems, from my point of view, completely ridiculous.

As for why the English are not well liked - well, hard to know exactly, but you can't deny that the English aren't particularly liked in the continental Europe. Perhaps this has something to do with the history of English hooliganism, general behaviour and attitude of large groups of young and drunk Englishmen travelling around Europe, or maybe goes even deeper than that. Perhaps it's just European snobbery, perhaps it's prejudice, or perhaps just a personal preference.

As for the club football - don't really follow English club football, but do try to track performance of Croatian players in the Premiership. The clubs I support in football are Dinamo Zagreb and the Phoenix.

I kind of look at it from the other angle.  Instead of 'why hate England' I think 'why like England', and after Vinnie Jones* I get stuck.

*Only played for Wales as he was too good for England.
loyalgunner2009-11-26 19:03:10

Pretty football doesn't always win tournaments.  Italy hardly set the World on fire in 06 (Indeed the only time I  have seen them play attractive football was in 82)   and Greece were successful but mind-numbing in Euro 04. BlattersBalls2009-11-26 20:31:21

I don't like Argentina and I certainly don't like Italy.

Your move sherlock.

BlattersBalls2009-11-26 20:47:11

I hate Ronaldo more than you could ever know.  Awful player, no standards whatsoever.

I hesitate to tell you the teams I do support in case you come up with something good that I can't defend.  So it's silence from me and hoping you don't read any previous posts.

BlattersBalls2009-11-26 21:02:32

...and Spurs??

Pretty football doesn't win tournaments? Not always, but has won it for Spain in 2008, Brazil in 1970. Probably Argentina in 1986.

Like I said in an earlier post, I think the whole idea of the English 'rarely' diving in comparison to Latin American/Southern European sides, who tend to be seen as particularly bad divers, is somewhat of a footballing myth. And as for Rooney - he had a particularly bad dive against Arsenal a few years back, when Man U was fighting them for the title, and won a penalty for it. Remember a few other dives from him in the Premiership too, and a few for England also.

I've felt the same way about England long before Croatia ever played them on the football field.

The 5-1 was probably the best I've seen England play since they beat the Dutch 4-1 in EURO 96. The 4-1 was a bit different, the red card for R. Kovac changed the course of the game and Walcott had a kind of game he'll probably never have again in his life when he killed us on the counter. And it's not as if we've never handed out footballing lessons to England either...

And Rooney, for example, is not petulant. Of course not. He's a hard-working fella who just gets on with his job, blah, blah, blah.