Who To Cheer For At Euro 2008
When England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, I asked who I should cheer for at Euro 2008. Almost midway through the group stages, and I’m still undecided. Of course, one doesn’t have to pick a team to cheer for; plenty of enjoyment can be had as a neutral (unless you were watching that France-Romania game). But it’s always more fun to have a little partisan leaning one way or another.
Without much continental European ancestry to draw on (Ukraine is my only real claim, but they didn’t make it, of course), I still haven’t found a team. The Dutch are close to drawing me in based on their football, as they often have in the past, but there’s something about their inevitable implosion that’s putting me off. Same goes for Spain. I get enough of that with England already.
A reader emailed me a potential solution: don’t choose on football criteria, but on ethical criteria, by using the website Who Should I Cheer For, which ranks teams on a variety of criteria, ranging from carbon dioxide emissions to military aid (England would have ranked second last had they qualified, unsurprisingly).
The site is an initiative of the World Development Movement. The top three by this ethical criteria are Sweden, Austria and Croatia, and I’m fully behind ruling out the likes of Italy (14th) or Russia (last) on this criteria.
Not a bad trio for me to pick from. I’m tempted by Croatia, as there’s something slightly redeeming about the team that knocked you out of the competition winning the whole thing; and Modric’s on Spurs now, my second English team. If Austria somehow won it, the atmosphere at the tournament would explode, so I’ve nothing against that.
And the Swedes: I like the kooky combination of the resurrected Henrik Larsson and the genius of Ibrahimovic. And, well, then there’s this:
So from whichever way you look it, be it ethical leanings, interesting football or base objectification of their female supporters, Sweden wins! (I hope you enjoyed the deterioration of the criteria used to make the decision)
And how about you: if you don’t have a native team at Euro 2008, who are you supporting, and how did you choose?
Credits: alin farcas on Flickr. And thanks to Murray for the tip-off to Who Should I Cheer For.
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Tom Dunmore is the founder and editor of Pitch Invasion. Follow him @pitchinvasion on Twitter.
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Oranje. Based upon background and travels. The WDM standards mean nothing to me. Government figures aren’t kicking the ball about.
Croatia are my team from the bottom half of the Southgate rankings as calibrated by Brian — but Italy are my pick from the top half. Which, as things stand now, serves me right for being immoral or something?
Jennifer’s not going to be happy about this. Not one bit. Anyway, why not just pretend England qualified anyway? Actually that’s completely idiotic. What kind of pathetic England fan would do that?
Maybe you can use the Team-o-Mat to find your team (only in German, sorry). Or cheer for Switzerland…
Yes, yes, yes, yes, dude, yes, yes…
For a satirical approach, try the Onion Bag’s Who To Support Quiz
http://www.the-onion-bag.com/euro2008/whotosupport.php
If I wasn’t already a Germany supporter and a Spanish (back up, back up back up) back up supporter due to family heritage.
Barring those 2, it would be based on places I could visit and know the language: Austria (plus I love Classical music and opera, match made in heaven), Switzerland, Netherlands<—not as great with Nederlands so it would be third, and the hotness of the girls would factor in as well; I’m a man I make no apologies for using that criteria in the least; Sweden would get consideration on that account.
For me it’s Switzerland. The trouble is, I only discovered this as Turkey’s second goal went in and I suddenly, inexplicably felt profoundly saddened. You sure can pick ‘em, Fred…
Holland for me. I picked them before everyone realised how good they were too.
Why is supporting England never this much fun?
wow the swedish girls are super hot
italy for me
Holland, theres a test you can take which decides which 3 teams you should be supporting and which 3 teams you should be booing. Here’s the link:
http://www.the-onion-bag.com/euro2008/whotosupport.php
Ive always liked Holland anyway, and i have been supporting them throughout the tournament.
Lets hope we get a Germany Vs Holland final with Holland winning to re-kindle the rivalry.
with girls like that i pick Sweden