Euro 2008: who are you supporting?

Spain Spain Spain.

Leaving aside racism in the Spanish game...

1) Husband is half-Spanish.
2) I'm about to live there for a year
3) Always seen the team as an England equivalent (decent players but never get anywhere, go out on penalties, etc).
4) Amazing strip (BLUE socks with red and gold!)

I thought about Spain for reason 3 above, also Torres and Villa, but may well plump for Croatia mostly due to Modric.

Poland.

1) Girlfriend is Polish
2) Their first match is against Germany, so I suspect we won't be the only ones rooting for them then!

I predict that for a lot of English people Poland will be for 2008 what Ireland was for 1994.

I would support Sweden for girlfriend reasons, but everyone in their squad is either rubbish or old or injured. I can't see them getting out of a group with Spain and Russia in it. Spain it is, for the perennial "this is going to be their year", and Torres is great.

ouch, just noticed Poland's group has Croatia in it as well as Germany! It is, as they say, "a big ask".

I voted for Italy, but really it's whoever I get in the office sweep + any team with Chelsea players in it.

Germany 4/1
Spain 11/2
Portugal 7/1
Italy 7/1
France 15/2
Holland 12/1
Czech Republic 12/1
Croatia 12/1
Switzerland 22/1
Greece 22/1
Sweden 28/1
Russia 33/1
Turkey 40/1
Romania 40/1
Poland 40/1
Austria 100/1

Wow @ Austria's odds even with home advantage. Are they that bad?

Ranked at 101 in the world by FIFA.

Below Thailand, Iraq and New Zealand. Nice.

what were Greece's odds at the start of Euro 2004?

Olof Mellberg

've never had a footie-luvin girlfriend or wife, bah :(
so that ain't samthung that'd make my rootin' options any easier.
anyhows, i'd prolly rejoice the most at the czechs' or the hollanderers' succcess, i guess.

(or, provided that teh gazprom guys got their craps beaten outta them, nearly anyone else's success 'd make me quite happily nuts too:)

more importantly - Trix or Flix?

GREECE

Greece cos of the UWC. I'm alod going to try and cook something from each country through the course of the tournament.

what were Greece's odds at the start of Euro 2004?

probably only 16/1 or something in the end - their qualification record was actually v good (beat Spain in Spain etc.)

kinda supporting Spain and Croatia too but would be happy with anyone winning this except Germany (and maybe Portugal)

France, of course (guess my nationality...) and Portugal (my gf is).
Yet, I think the best team is Spain. but they will lose, as ever, I guess...

Portugal

France, of course (guess my nationality...)

Er, oops, yes France too for me please.

kinda hope Spain get to play Holland in the QF as they hardly ever seem to meet

I would support Poland for Boruc's sake, but they are generally rubbish when they reach the final stages of competitions. Will watch out for Holland if Big Jan plays.

Have a soft spot for the Czech Republic, they usu. play some lovely football and I like Bruckner, don't know if he is still the manager tho.

Other than that, I generally end up supporting Germany, because the English antipathy towards them is so irritating. Or Italy, always enjoy when they win anything, esp. if they beat France along the way.

Forgot Sweden, Henrik's got out of his bath chair to play again!

France cuz I'm French but I guess this poll is more for Britishers

Otherwise, the Czechs are always my 2nd team but they seem very weak these days. Rosicky and Nedved not being in the squad doesn't help either. (Tom - this is Bruckner's farewell tournament).

I quite fancy Greece to go pretty far again, quarters or semis. I've been convinced that germany are favorites but I'm not really sure why.

I've been convinced that germany are favorites but I'm not really sure why.

because no-one else really looks that good enough to win either so it goes to them by default

Italy and France not looking better than Germany?

Used to love watching the Czechs, assume the team is past its prime tho. Always tend to root for the Netherlands, Croatia, Italy, France. Good thing about being neutral is that you can change your mind as it goes along tho.

Romania is my dark horse, I'm surprised how low their odds are.

speshly if Mutu is on the team - Romania has only lost once when he's been playing.

Best record of the qualifiers if I remember well

That often counts for nothing when push comes to shove

Other than that, I generally end up supporting Germany, because the English antipathy towards them is so irritating

i feel like there are lots of solid footballing reasons to dislike Germany wherever you're from, but maybe i am being fooling by my English nationalistic programming.

Spain are such an attractive second team because they are both glamourous and underdogs. no one could begrudge them winning a trophy. the Dutch are the same but less glamourous nowadays.

well, the group with France, Italy, Holland and Romania is totally silly. Especially considering that these teams already were together in the qualifiers.
I could easily see France out in the 1st round...

xpost fooling=fooled, and that sounded really sarcastic reading back but was not intended to be

Spain has such an amazing team. by far the best on paper. but somehow, they don't really play well together.

my wacky predictionz4u:

Cro bt Swi
Ger bt Cze
Spa bt Hol
Rus bt Rom

Ger bt Cro
Rus bt Spa lulz

Ger bt Rus zzz

Spain are such an attractive second team because they are both glamourous and underdogs

and racists

Hoping Russia fall flat on their faces

and racists

one of the reasons why it was so good to beat them during WC06...

thought it was just some of the fans

yeah, i remember than famous story about all the Spanish players being racist. oh wait, no i don't.

And managers

managers

Old truism about the Spanish not having a strong sense of national identity but probably still true, possibly hence the not playing together thing.

that's why cornish players never produce the goods for us.

pasties

Clubs too powerful, more important than national team? (xxp)

if anybody has the pic with viera telling aragones to shut up...

Noodle : yeah, that's the usual reason but they're all pro and play together and with others in clubs all the year so it can't be that important, yes ?

I was thinking more about not caring that much whether "Spain" does well, so maybe being more showboat-y or indisciplined or something?

What's England's excuse then?

We're shit.

yeah, if we could combine the talent of the Spanish players with the unifying force of hating German and French people, we would win the lot.

Well, I dunno, for a footballer, winning the WC or the euro must be one of the most important things in a career whatever the country you play for, no ?

If we could embrace the radical notion that maybe Fat Frank and Stevie G haven't done very much at international level we would have a chance of picking a decent side?

xpost Yeah you're probably right Alex maybe Spain are just bottlers or something.

France and Holland have often had strong performances from pretend-French/Dutch players so you can make an argument against the importance of that 'national pride' element, but Spain is something else altogether. i think NV is very likely on to something with this.

Doesn't help when the referees and match officials conspire to make sure the host nation beat you, as in WC 2002 (see also Italy)

shoulda been Spain in the 02 final not Germany

Well I think the Spain shares the France hating with you, guys ! (Actually, I discovered I while ago on another football thread that many countries hate France !).

what were Greece's odds at the start of Euro 2004?

probably only 16/1 or something in the end - their qualification record was actually v good (beat Spain in Spain etc.)

Nah - more like 100-1, or 150-1, according to this:

Greece defy the odds at Euro 2004

pretend-French/Dutch players so you can make an argument against the importance of that 'national pride' element.

hum. pretty dubious argument, here... "pretend-french" ?? "national pride" ?? like, you are not "really" french if you're from foreign ascent and therefore can't have national pride ??

Actually, I discovered I while ago on another football thread that many countries hate France !

You mean Scotland fans? No, we love France, the Auld Alliance and all that, it's the English that hate the French. We just don't like France's current football team - Henry, Trezeguet, Malouda etc.

France and Holland have often had strong performances from pretend-French/Dutch players so you can make an argument against the importance of that 'national pride' element, but Spain is something else altogether

TBH I think (often phenomenally talented) immigrant footballers are MORE likely to put that tiny bit extra in, there's extra importance in being lauded as a hero in your adopted home country. A big proportion of the French team were born in Africa, most of the Spanish and English teams were born in Spain. There's a reason players want to play for France and not, say, Senegal.

Especially when, y'know, France isn't exactly renowned for the way it treats its immigrants.

x-post to Alex: do you think Patrick Viera feels 100% French and not even 1% Senegalese?

ah, that old debate...

I don't think there is much real France hate among the English. I don't see it at least.

"Hop off, Frogs" is not a headline I can imagine happening in a lot of other countries

ah The Independent up to it's old hi-jinx again eh

You know what I mean tho

A big proportion of the French team

I don't know the figures but I'm pretty sure this is wrong. Most of the black players in the team are born in France and from Guadeloupe/Martinique descent.

original quote: big proportion of the French team were born in Africa

when was that headline from? xps

1415

"Hop off, Frogs" is not a headline I can imagine happening in a lot of other countries

My favorite: The Sun during Euro 2004 "Kick 'em in the Gauls!!"

I don't know the figures but I'm pretty sure this is wrong. Most of the black players in the team are born in France and from Guadeloupe/Martinique descent.

We did this on another thread, there are a lot of players who weren't born in France, usu. the best players!

My favorite: The Sun during Euro 2004 "Kick 'em in the Gauls!!"

That's not xenophobic tho

The Sun today calls on its patriotic family of readers to tell the feelthy French to FROG OFF!

They INSULT us, BURN our lambs, FLOOD our country with dodgy food and PLOT to abolish the dear old pound.

Now it's your turn to kick THEM in the Gauls

...

They BURNED alive British lambs earlier this year because they couldn't match our quality. They also:

JEERED Mrs Thatcher when she visited Paris to boost celebrations for the bi-centenary of the French Revolution last year

BANNED British beef after falsely claiming it had mad cow disease

BLEATED when we found their foul soft cheese was riddled with listeria bugs

GAVE IN to the Nazis during the Second World War when we stood firm

TRIED to conquer Europe until we put Napoleon down at Waterloo in 1815 and

Remember folks, it won't be long before the garlic-breathed bastilles will be here in droves once the Channel Tunnel is open

Oh right, that is xenophobic!

All of The Sun staff are Scottish

They're only giving the English readership what they want.

more French page 3 girls

Taking jobs from OUR large-breasted women.

I hope France play in their red 2nd shirt against Italy anyway

We did this on another thread, there are a lot of players who weren't born in France, usu. the best players!

Let's see

The usual starting 11:

Coupet: Le Puy-en-Velay (near Lyon)
Sagnol: Saint Etienne
Thuram: Guadeloupe
Gallas: Asnières (Paris suburb)
Abidal: Lyon
Makelele: Zaire
Vieira: Senegal
Malouda: French Guyane
Ribery: Boulogne sur mer
Henry: Les Ulis (Paris suburb)
Anelka: Versailles

The English can find excellent reasons to hate pretty much everybody. It's what we do best.

Austria - cellar dude
Switzerland - too flat and rich
Poland - drink beer on our tube; undercut brave english plumbers
Portugal - Winker
Italy - Italian
France - wot the sun sed
Greece - very boring in last euro AND still won
Turkey - muslims
Czech Republic - rosicky's hairstyle
Germany - wars
Croatia - they beat us in qualifiers
Russia - sushi incident
Spain - racist
Sweden - unnaturally good looking
Romania - on our tube with kids and plastic cups
Netherlands - homosexual drug addicts; koeman

Our version

http://8d.img.v4.skyrock.com/8de/portossss/pics/1322568826_small.jpg

Switzerland - too flat

?????????

i nearly choked on a piece of Toblerone once

Decimated British cuckoo clock industry.

Rosicky's out of the tournament tho so may need a better excuse to hate Czechs

they're all goths

i nearly choked on a piece of Toblerone once

their chocolate's not flat enough!

their strip tends to resemble a tablecloth.

x-post

Vague fondness:
Italy
Czech Republic
Spain
Netherlands

Indifference:
Austria
Switzerland
Greece
Turkey
Russia

Beef due to experience with England football team:
Poland
Portugal
Croatia
Romania
Sweden

Beef due to just being English:
France
Germany

Rosicky's out of the tournament tho so may need a better excuse to hate Czechs

Milan Baros's existence

baaderonixx - what does PD stand for, over Greece?

btw accordeonistes is #1 insult on that map

the French play them too POT KETTLE BLACK!

PD = "pédé" = fags

Czech Republic

JEDEM!!!

Putes!
Putes!
Putes!
Putes!

funny that Swiss people are considered slow. they must be the equivalent of Irish people for England and Polish people for USA in lol thickee racist joeks.

Češi do toho!

Switzerland - too flat and rich

Confused with Norfolk

I'm rooting for France, hope Italy don't come out of the group stages. Like others have said before me, wont be tough ot guess where i'm from ;)

xp

no French lol thickee joeks are mostly for the Belgians
Swiss are considered as harmless foolz, the slow thing comes from their particular accent (the french speaking ones)

ah, i see. thank you, this is very instructive.

That map is the funniest thing I've seen all week.

Petr Cech's boxing helmet is pretty annoying. But I think Rosicky's hair is so annoying it transcends his own actual need to appear.

I'm not sure what I was on about with Switzerland being flat. I blame Phillippppe Senderos.

PUTES
MAFIA
VODKA

Reminding me of the time that a friend who lives in France threw a fancy dress party, where the English were supposed to come as French types and the French as English. They all came as football hooligans and punks.

The French are so much better at doing English stereotypes than the Yanks.

Yeah they should stop billing Mary Poppins as a documentary in the US.

Americans struggle because both positive and negative English stereotypes are useful to them, so they end up with well-spoken, intelligent hooligans with bad teeth. whereas the French have no such conflict.

although i never really understood why eating roast beef was something to ridicule.

not all of us struggle

yes you do, every single one of you.

According to wikipedia ""Roastbeef" (or "rosbif") is a long standing anglophobe French slang term to designate the English or the United Kingdom inhabitants. Its origins lies in William Hogarth's francophobic painting The Gate of Calais or O! The Roast Beef of Old England, which the roastbeef allegory is used as a mockery. Its popular use includes movies, TV shows and sketch comedies."

I am perplexed

To a nation that prides itself on cuisine as the pinnacle of art and science, us having a national dish of hunks of dead cow bunged in the oven till they're brown is kinda funny.

now i'm offended

Guess who I'll be rooting for.

My favorite French epithet for the English is the extremely archaic 'godon'.

xenophobic food epithets TS: frogs vs rosbif vs krauts?

in the old days, the french also used to call the italians "macaronis"

Argie bhaji.

Is that a term for Argentines of Indian descent?

I am supporting Italy. I am going to wear my hairband when ever they play.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Germany - because it's the only nation here that I have heritage from and because it will just upset you Englanders!

Nah we all heart the Germans round these parts. ILX, that is, not England per se, although England has warmed to them a little after the last World Cup.

There are fewer things more enjoyable in a major tournament than the feeling of schadenfreude at seeing Italy crash out early. I felt robbed two years ago.

I still like Holland and the Czechs quite a bit, am I right in thinking both aren't as good as they were 2-4 years ago?

Probably Italy or Spain. Probably Spain actually, now Totti's retired from international football.

I'm all about Spain, obv, El nino to be top scorer, second choice, Holland, Babel to be top scorer. Failing that - anyone who annoys Tom D

Nah we all heart the Germans round these parts

Nah we don't. It's political correctness gone mad!!

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