Quickfire World Cup Poll #15: Who *do* you want to win the World Cup?

I'd like to have waited 'til we were down to the last sixteen, but this one deserves more than a couple of hours. Apologies to Ivory Coast - if they pull off the mother of all turnarounds today I'll consider them the moral winners here.

i guess we can always have another poll when things are narrowed down.

like when it's korea, england, japan, and chile in the semi's

my choices

1 usa
2 mexico
3 brazil
4 japan
5 england

pretty much portugal and spain are the teams i don't want to win

same as before, spain then argentina

japan wd also be great....

i'm rooting against spain pretty much because david villa seems like a massive douche -- i may be wrong tho

villa is a bit of a legend tbh? stayed with both of his clubs far after he'd outgrown them out of loyalty, i tink.

want mexico to win.

i think it's just the sideburns

sorta neutral about brazil winning

difficult to dislike a team w/ kaká, robinho, lúcio and maicon and i do kinda admire dunga's schema, but on the other hand a team of their stature playing so cautiously is kinda dispiriting

Wonder if Drogba, the Toures and Eboue can stuff eight past North Korea?

I'm going to go with the Dutch. Still haven't got over 1978.

Who do I want to win or who has played like a team worthy of winning? Two different answers. (Japan and nobody) :-/

i'm rooting against spain pretty much because david villa seems like a massive douche -- i may be wrong tho

― incredible length (J0rdan S.), Friday, 25 June 2010 09:56 (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

that's completely wrong by all accounts, he's about as unpretentious as elite fooball players get, still attached to his home team in asturias and waiting years to get the transfer he wanted where most players wd bitch, moan and blackmail until they got their way

Voted Chile, but really wouldn't mind any of them winning - except, perhaps, England.

i'd prefer a non euro/non usa team. voted argentina

Has to be the Dutch, with a cheering Dennis bergkamp to overcome his fear of flying to cheer them on in the sidelines should they reach the final.

V impressed there hasn't been any infightng so far. If Robben can hit top form...xp

Paraguay 2nd place: as my fave of the South Americans that haven't won it.

wld be ok with japan, the dutch, chile or paraguay too, aside from mexico.

this brazil team are tactically better than usual, but they don't have the joy of a ronaldinho/real ronaldo/rivaldo outfit and yeah it's tough to love them because of it.

Argentina, Germany, Spain, Holland... don't have any strong preferences other than I'd like a team playing good football to win

Argentina. Loads of brilliant inventive forward play, 92-year-old Juan Sebastian Veron pottering about in midfield like he owns the place, dodgy wingers at full back, batshit manager who selects squads based on dreams and takes every opportunity to slag off sacred cow Pele, nice shirts, Messi.

Also, when everybody was LOL Maradona during the qualifying stages, I was saying Argentina will win the World Cup, didn't put any fuckin' money on it tho...

1. uruguay
2. japan

I like Uruguay too

... and Japan, but they won't win it

nah, neither of those will win it; if we're talking who do you want to win out of the likely contenders then it's brazil for me. resolutely don't want spain to win

wow barca really fucking up spain's relative popularity of only a few years back?

Still <3 Barca and enjoy watching Spain, though they could do with cutting down to maybe 150 passes before shooting.

I have Argentina in the office sweepstake, so would be £16 better off if they won.

It's the Netherlands for me too - great opportunity here to right some historical wrongs.

I'd also like to take a moment to applaud the sartorial elegance of the 1930 mascots.

As far as I can see, the only boring, yawnsome, functional European team left to pick up the pieces if all the exciting, footballing teams blow up - as per usual - is .... England

... as per usual, that the footballing teams implode, not that England are always there to benefit!

I have England in the sweep and will be avidly watching them take on those foreign foreigners who aren't even the right kind of foreign on Sunday.

I have England in the sweep

A Scottish Tragedy

of the ones i think i stand a chance i'm rooting for Argentina but on the basis of last night's humiliation i'm voting Japan

och Wayne Rooney's as English as I am Scottish - we're all a big hotchpotch of random nationalities these days
xp

I internally flipflop on this all the time but part of me would rather see a less footballingly pretty team who had never previously made it to the final get there, than a BRA or ARG whose success I am more than familiar with

Portugal seem like a good compromise in that regard

i'm gonna have to go with england, not so much because i'm english, but because they seem like a great bunch of lads.

*Satire*

Crouchie, Upsonie and David Jamesie seem like a great bunch of lads.

posting on ILM is not so far removed from punching someone because they won't let you put your monster jams megamix on. simpatico.

Yeah Jordan I have to agree with others but then I can also understand the bad facial hair choices putting you off. This is however a league where Puyol can get away with that haircut tho, so all in perspective.

Uruguay>Japan>Holland>Slovakia>Argentina>Korea>Mexico>Germany>Ghana>Brazil>everyone else>USA>fuck Barcelona>England.

Picked England because I'm English, but if I was a neutral there's no way on earth I'd pick England.

you can choose to be neutral, just saying

According to the coverage yesterday England are everyone's second team around South Africa. All the earlier features about Africans supporting all African sides must have been bollocks, then.

(xp) I don't want to be neutral. I would like my national team to win. But I can't see anything appealing about them, so I wouldn't expect anyone who isn't from England to cheer for them.

(apart from the Irish, obviously)

Given the deathlike grip worldwide ubiquity of the Premiership it would be surprising if lots of neutrals didn't support England

Though I imagine a lot of sympathy would evaporate once people actually saw the English national team in action

Though I imagine a lot of support would evaporate once people actually saw that Beckham was no longer playing

i would like to note that my perception of david villa's douchiness was solely based on CHOICE OF FACIAL HAIR and had no roots in facts of any kind -- something for the both of us to think about imo

would like to say Holland, but I'm bummed by the way they've been playing thusfar

can't believe I'm saying this, but... ARGENTINA! maradona makes me inexplicably happy

Given the deathlike grip worldwide ubiquity of the Premiership it would be surprising if lots of neutrals didn't support England

― I am utterly and abjectly pissed off with this little lot (Tom D.), 25 June 2010 12:10 (46 minutes ago)

Given that most of the likeable/talented players in the premier league not english, i kinda hmm i dunno like

who's your favourite loveable foreigner darraghmac?

tom bombadil

in footballing terms, rafa benitez

i would like to note that my perception of david villa's douchiness was solely based on CHOICE OF FACIAL HAIR and had no roots in facts of any kind -- something for the both of us to think about imo

he slapped that one guy too

that one guy had it coming to him

people who slap people who have slaps coming- a-ok in my book

Anyone but Switzerland (zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz) and England (they're England).

Holland, Japan, Argentina or USA would be good. Or Spain, because I have money on them.

stepping on strikers' toes at corners is a defender's moral right

South Korea also good, because it would stop Juninho being the only dude to play for Celtic with a World Cup winners medal on his mantlepiece.

people that insist on their 'moral right'- in line for slaps imo

who's your favourite loveable foreigner darraghmac?

http://www.readingfc.co.uk/javaImages/65/7c/0,,10306~3505253,00.jpg

arah would you look at the cut of the wee maneen, just like his father

That's not Stephen HUnt, that actually *is* Dylan Moran, right?

1-Netherlands (picked them before the tournament)
2-Argentina (Maradona, Messi, Masch, and Veron)
3-Germany (Ozil + Beckenbauer trolling England)
4-Chile (genuine tactical boldness and freshness)

it warms my heart to see they always did the running out w/ fattey kids thing

that's yerman hunt alright

South Korea also good, because it would stop Juninho being the only dude to play for Celtic with a World Cup winners medal on his mantlepiece.

Which of the British clubs has the most WC winners' medallists? West Ham? Arsenal? Everton can only claim Ray Wilson (Alan Ball was still a Blackpool player, I think - we signed almost immediately afterwards; if we allow that kind of thing, we could claim Marco Materazzi too...)

sentimental favorite: USA
more realistic favorite: Maradona trolling the world

spurs have the two obvious ones, but i'm sure there're more

Ah, but they weren't with Spurs when they won it. That's my rule. Anyone can buy a WC winner after the fact - it's neither big nor clever. And it's a long time since Spurs were considered a clever club.

Jimmy Greaves was eventually given a '66 WC medal

Which he accepted with his typical good grace

when did you last consider tottenham one of the clever clubs

This is the biggest ever Everton representation at a WC, actually. Pienaar (out), Cahill (sent off and out), Yakubu (worst miss in WC history and out), Yobo (out), Hietinger (could win it!), Howard (isn't going to win it but COME ON), Senderos (yeah, I'd forgotten about him as well).

Compare with 1998: Myrhe and Bilic. They didn't exactly cover themselves in glory.

Ah, but they weren't with Spurs when they won it.

I can only think of Ardiles, Klinsmann & Peters who won it then went to Spurs.

You forgot loanee toffee Landon Donovan.

ricky villa!

He didn't play in the final tho?

^

*Villa-slap*

He was really a reserve player for Arg.

when did you last consider tottenham one of the clever clubs

Not since they lost Teddy's huge footballing brain.

*Villa-slap*

ok lol

berbatov footballing brain- approaching sheringham levels imo

They've had to use their legs for those first five yards ever since.

xp

lennon's legs- have the first five yards

lennon's brain- oh daer

Senderos now a Fulham player xpost.

Oh yes, he's gone, hasn't he? Would love to claim Donovan as one of our own but that was just a brief fling.

I'm going to work out the answer to my own bloody question now...

usa

1. USA
2. Any country that hasn't won before

Based on club affiliation at time of tournament and inclusion in squad (if not necessarily on pitch during final), it's a four-way tie:

Arsenal (Petit, Viera '98, Eastham '66)
West Ham (Moore, Hurst, Peters '66)
Liverpool (Byrne, Hunt, Callaghan '66)
Man Utd (Stiles, Connelly, Charlton R '66)

Oh yes, he's gone, hasn't he? Would love to claim Donovan as one of our own but that was just a brief fling.

Do you think his performance in the WC will lead to a real offer to buy?

(either from everton or another PL side)

Michael - how many players did Everton have at the 86 World Cup? (Seeing as they were actually good then and both England and Scotland were in Mexico)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

the problem with buying donovan is that he is going to be worth way more to mls, especially after the wc, than he will be to any other team.

NB&S: Five in '86 - Steven, Stevens, Reid, Lineker, Sharp.

I don't think Everton couldn't afford Donovan before the WC, tbh. Looked good in the Royal Blue though. They all do.

South Korea 0
Slovakia 0

aw thought they were all going to get a vote there :(

Eng in shock 2nd place there.

Love the idea of an Eng-Holland final right about now.

Based on club affiliation at time of tournament and inclusion in squad (if not necessarily on pitch during final), it's a four-way tie:

Arsenal (Petit, Viera '98, Eastham '66)
West Ham (Moore, Hurst, Peters '66)
Liverpool (Byrne, Hunt, Callaghan '66)
Man Utd (Stiles, Connelly, Charlton R '66)

Is that definitive? Those numbers seem amazingly low - I'd imagine somewhere like Milan is well into the 20s.

I think the question was just for English teams. Although I've found one possible addition to it - Bernard Lama was apparently a West Ham player while in France's 1998 squad? Moved to PSG the next season though, so perhaps that had happened before the final.

Oh yes, forgot Lama!

I was just doing for the Brits, yes. Bayern/Milan/Santos/River Plate probably walking it otherwise.

Japan 7
Netherlands 5
Uruguay 3
Mexico 3

- this little run = my remaining favs

That's our top two down already - not looking good for Argentina next

Japan 7
Netherlands 5
Uruguay 3
Mexico 3

- this little run = my remaining favs

yeah ditto if you add ghana