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FIFA World Cup men's teams to root for (that aren't the USA)


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    No USA team in the 2018 World Cup leaves a majority of us scrambling to decide if we should even care to watch this year, and if so, who do we cheer for?

    I originally thought I wasn't going to pay much attention this time around when I saw the USA fall short a while back. Then I started looking out of curiosity who's favored, who are the underdogs, etc. Now I'm back into caring. :)

    Iceland. You want an underdog to root for? This is easily my pick. They are the smallest country ever to be in the World Cup. I also think they can make some actual waves; I really don't think they will be a one and done team. They qualified ahead of Ukraine and Croatia last year.

    France. They have only won once, in 1998. But have been in contention for a while now. Made the quarter-finals last time around in '14 and got 2nd place on 2006. For some reason, I always find myself rooting for them over teams like Germany every 4 years. Probably because France just seems to choke in prime time, even though they have all the talent to win. I think Man U's import Paul Pogba can change that this time around.

    Portugal. Basically I just want to see Christiano Rolando finally win a World Cup. His career is close to ending. He only has 1 or 2 more tries, tops.

    Those are my picks. I think there actually is plenty of reason to watch this year outside of trying to root for Team USA. Since they didn't even qualify, try picking a random country like I did and maybe that'll make it more exciting. Kind of like March Madness really.

    Which teams do you find yourself rooting for in the World Cup that aren't the US?

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    SFriedman Wrote:

    Iceland. You want an underdog to root for? This is easily my pick. They are the smallest country ever to be in the World Cup. I also think they can make some actual waves; I really don't think they will be a one and done team. They qualified ahead of Ukraine and Croatia last year.

    Iceland is my pick. I'm a sucker for the underdog. And NO to France... just because it's France. ;)
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    Iceland and Portugal for sure. Also Costa Rica and Brazil. Mostly because they are soccer cultures to me. So I always like to see them on the field.
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    Dallasite Wrote: Iceland and Portugal for sure. Also Costa Rica and Brazil. Mostly because they are soccer cultures to me. So I always like to see them on the field.

    It's always so weird to me to see how much other countries care about soccer (football), especially when talking about Costa Rica and Brazil. They are absolutely INSANE about their teams. We care alot about our sports here in America, with the NFL leading the way, I think. But even if we took all of our passion for all sports and doubled it, we wouldn't even come close to their level of passion for just one sport.

    I wonder why it's soccer in particular that they feel this way about.

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    1. England!!!!
    2. Costa Rica, Panama & Mexico
    3. Whoever plays 7 & 8 below

    -- big gap --

    4. Reputable countries who haven't won before
    5. Reputable countries who have won before
    6. Brazil

    -- gigantic gap --

    7. Countries with human rights issues (Saudi Arabia & Iran)

    -- another gap --

    8. Countries with human rights issues that are also corrupt assholes (Russia)

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    PowerPlay Wrote:

    I wonder why it's soccer in particular that they feel this way about.

    Pretty much because they don't have any other national sport's teams to root for, that I'm aware of. Nothing to compete with soccer, or futbol, anyways. Maybe if they had baseball, basketball, hockey and football it would be a little more spread out. Also, soccer is probably the least expensive and therefore easiest game for everyone to play and practice. Way easier to have just a soccer field, a ball and some goal posts over a football stadium and pads, basketball arenas, etc etc.
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    Mexico vs Brazil will be the best match-up so far. Been rooting for both teams so it kind of sucks one team is going to knock off the other. But hey, there can only be one winner.