FIFA World Cup 2022 - Knockout Stage - Page 22

For players, the positive factors are a, how flashy people are, how skillful they are, how sympathetic they seem. (weighted in that order.) Negative factors are - if they come off as jerks outside the field, if they cheat on the field, if they're violent (from least bad to worst, although obv egregiousness matters too).

So Ronaldinho is basically the greatest ever to me because he was the flashiest while also being the best (even if briefly), and without being a violent cheater. I like Neymar a lot because he's flashy and super skilled, but dislike him a bit because he exaggerates injuries (and seems like kind of a jerk). People who snap in response are also more forgivable than people who instigate. Pepe of the past was the absolute worst, and Roy Keane can also go hang. I hated young Zlatan (he punched Erik Hoftun twice in the back of the head during Rosenborg-Ajax because Hoftun was crushing him), grew more fond of him with time.

For teams, there's - mostly in order, although I'm not fully sure it's the right one (other than a): a) what's my personal relationship with the team? I'm virtually always gonna root for Norway and Rosenborg even if they suck or play boring football. (tbh, I was reasonably happy when we were knocked out of the EC 2000, because we were clearly aiming for 0-0 and it was kinda amazing how boring the team was) I also cheer for Sweden and Denmark and Iceland (nordic brotherhood wohoo), and the Netherlands (been there plenty times, like a bunch of dutch people) and Poland (wife is Polish) and Germany (WC 1990 was the first world cup I watched and West-Germany was consequently one of the first teams I grew fond of). Then there's b) - does the team play attractive football or not?, combined with c)- do I like their players? (Or, do I 'really dislike' one or two particular players) These factors tend to fluctuate a lot. Italy is a team that to me used to score very poorly on these two, but during the EC, I found myself charmed by them, as they played entertaining football and the players seemed plenty sympathetic. Portugal has in the past been my most disliked team (impression of them as a bunch of diving cheaters, with sparkles of violence, who also played really boring football despite having spectacular players), but this year, I'm largely indifferent. Then there's d) - I by default cheer for the underdog.

Then, with club teams, I also factor in e) supporters and f) owners, and for countries, e) supporters and f) political leadership. For club teams, these should probably go higher - because I consistently cheer against Manchester City even though they play very attractive football and I like their manager and many of their players. They are however never the underdog, I characterize a bunch of their supporters as fair-weather supporters (incidentally I've started liking Manchester United more, because the supporters they still have have proven some degree of resilience by now), and their owners represent what I consider a plague upon football. I was a Newcastle fan for almost 30 years - but I broke up last year. Kinda sucks to watch them play well now, very conflicted feelings. Dortmund on the other end gets huge support from me - not only do they play attractive football, they're also a consistent underdog (for trophies), and they have amazing supporters. Meanwhile Lazio could play the most attractive football there is but I'd still dislike them, same with Hungary. Saudi-Arabia vs Argentina was a bit iffy, I did end up cheering for Saudis, but I guess the underdog story was just so powerful, even more so than the 'the leadership of this country is near the very bottom of the totem pole' part was. And with Iran, their supporters (and team) seem to be at odds with a similarly poor leadership of the country, so there, I largely cheer for them. Asian and African teams get some intrinsic support from status of underdog, but if they're matched up against one of the Northern European teams that I like more I'll normally go with them.