Whoever is playing Mexico. After that I have family ties to Peru, and heritage from Germany and England (as well as either Ireland squad if they make it), so those, plus gotta love Iceland. But mostly, whoever is playing Mexico. And really, I doubt I'll watch much of it.
Not like it matters either way. The US not being in the tournament has guaranteed this tournament's total irrelevancy in American popular culture. What a total ******** up by the team and federation. And the worst part is that Gulati and his sycophants are going to go on their merry way ********ing things up worse and still tell us with a straight face that everything's ok.
I'll be rooting for Costa Rica, then Mexico. I tend to root for CONCACAF teams. Outside of CONCACAF, if Sweden qualifies, I'll be rooting for them as well.
I don't know about that. If you look at Pop culture icons and Other major American Sports icons they seem to root for other teams and players anyway. Brazil and Argentina/Messi bandwagons go full force on twitter, facebook and tabloid shows like TMZ. LeBron James became a James Rodriguez fan when he saw how well he played in Brazil (that and his Jersey also saying "James" on it.) I think without the USA being in it maybe average Joe's won't care as much but most other people with a brain will follow it. Especially the Knockout stages.
Look there's no "upside" whatsoever to us not qualifying, so please don't anyone take this the wrong way.. but this will be the first World Cup I've ever watched all the way through (just got into soccer in '86, but was too young to really understand it) where we're not in it. I guess in some ways it will mean a relaxed World Cup for me, in the sense that the pre-match, in-game, and post-match anxiety of having to watch the USA play. I'm always more and more nervous the closer we get to game day, and always pissed off when we get bad calls against us, so I guess in some ways I'm trying to see the positive side of just being able to sit back and relax and watch the World Cup as a neutral. This may sound like an unoriginal choice, but if I had to pick a team - I'll go for Argentina. Honestly, I would like to see Messi put the golden icing on the cake of his career by finally winning an international senior tournament.. and after coming so close in the last couple of years, and having to watch Ronaldo lift the Euros, I'd like to Messi and the "golden generation" of Argentina finally win the world cup. They are not in good form right now, but I think they're a good outside bet to pull a "Brazil 2002".. in the sense that they struggle through qualifying and then finally get it together on the last day, and could maybe be a dark horse for a deep run. Either that or I'd like to see a team that's never won it before do it... but I don' think there's anyone in that boat with a good chance of that.. maybe Belgium or Portugal, but we'll see. I'll go for Argentina
If Colombia can somehow, some way have everyone healthy and get a little bit of fortune when it comes to the draw and ensuing bracket they can make as good of a run as Portugal or Belgium can. But deep down inside I know it will be a blue blood who will win it.
They were the darlings of the Euro in France so maybe FOX can piggy back off of what ESPN did and show them clapping their hands over their head as often as possible..
hmmmm... CONCACAF teams for sure - get enough shit from my European friends who think qualifying from here is a breeze. Then - I'll have to go by my heritage - Scotland and Wales are out, so either England, Ireland, Switzerland, or Germany. It's too easy to root for Germany though, so I suppose England if Ire or die Schweiz don't make it.
After just visiting Mexico for the first time, I'm tempted to make them my favorite this time around. Wish I could have seen a game there, but was during the break. Lovely country.
People can moan if they want about missing out but I'll still watch as many as I can. I'll just be hoping for upsets.
These are the reasons why Japan is my 2nd team, they have so many similarities to the USA. -Both are historically baseball countries. -Both started taking soccer more seriously in the 1990s, founding professional leagues. -Both got a huge boost when hosting the World Cup, reaching the Round of 16.
Also another similarity between USA 94 and Japan 2002 teams.. they both had players with crazy red hair!
Also both of them had a disappointing World Cup after the one they hosted, only to rebound in the World Cup after that.
Yep, CONCACAF does well and our FIFA regional multiplier could go up, especially since our regions crap showing in 2006 will be dropped. Just having all the CONCACAF teams advance out of the group would probably be enough to boost our regional multiplier up a bit. It seems FIFA is using the FIFA rank more too. In 2018 they are using it now to seed all the groups.
There are rooting interests that I feel could be helpful for us, by shining a light on our deficiencies so I am largely going with that. CONCACAF teams because SEC, SEC! Also because a rising tide lifts all ships and the better they are the better we will have to be. Iceland because that used to be us. Every time they play well it is a reminder of how we have taken all our advantages for granted and pretend they are disadvantages. Belgium because Tottenham and they did it all with a comprehensive youth development overhaul that we could learn from and despite having to integrate players from two factions that hate each other. Messi and 10 donkeys in blue, because history and little American kids like mine could still fall in love with the game at WC 2018 with or without the US, because of this dude alone.
I'm going for Poland. Nothing says Unique more than a Black man rooting for Poland seriously though I'm pulling for them to cause some shocks