Which World Cup team to back can be a challenge
Picking which team you’re going to support is half the fun of the World Cup.
Sure, for some it’s obvious. If you’re one of the many French expats living in the Plateau, chances are you’re backing Les Bleus. And with the quarter-finals kicking off Friday, many have had to switch allegiances after their team was eliminated. In fact, many of the favourites are gone, including Germany, Spain, Argentina and Portugal. Plus two of the perennial contenders, the Netherlands and Italy, didn’t even make it to the starting line of this World Cup.
For many of us, it’s not obvious which team we’ll back. When my kids were younger, we jumped on the Spain bandwagon, back when Spain was winning World Cups and Euros like it was going out of style. I’m from Scotland and my family’s roots are pure laine Irish, so my two most likely teams — Scotland and Ireland — have been mostly missing in action at recent big international tournaments.
John Campbell is in a similar predicament. Campbell, who moved from Glasgow to Montreal as an infant, is one of Montreal’s biggest Glasgow Celtic fans, and his team when it comes to the World Cup is Scotland. Alas, the Scots haven’t been at a World Cup or Euro for 20 years. So that leaves Campbell casting around for a team to support for each World Cup.
“I would choose Wales if they were in it,” Campbell said. “Never England. All my family is always (saying) ‘Anyone but England.’ The oldest international rivalry in sport is Scotland/England. It’s the oldest enemy.”
This time around, he’s backing Belgium for the very good reason that their exciting squad includes Celtic defender Dedryck Boyata. So he is ready for a huge game Friday afternoon with Belgium facing off against Brazil.
“I love to watch good football and I love to see the big teams get knocked out,” Campbell said. “I like going for the underdogs. So I’m hoping Belgium is going to do it.”
Oh, and he’s hoping Sweden gives England a spanking on Saturday.
Barb Hill, on the other hand, will be cheering on England, as she always does. Though like all England fans, she has a jaundiced view of her favourite team’s performances in recent World Cups.
“My team’s still in there, and I’m just surprised they are,” said Hill, a St-Lambert resident whose family has British roots. She talks of how dysfunctional those previous England teams were.
“I love the Premier League and I just couldn’t figure out why all those guys couldn’t play well together on a national team,” Hill said. “When they got to the World Cup, they played like aging rock stars every single time.”
But she loves this young, new England team built around Tottenham Hotspur superstar Harry Kane, a side that made it into the quarter-finals with a dramatic victory Tuesday in penalties over Colombia.
“It’s not just one guy,” Hill said. “Harry ’s great, but look how many guys stepped up for that win over Colombia. And I think they ’ll beat Sweden.”