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| Germany's Thomas Mueller tackles Argentina's Lionel Messi |
Some 21 percent of fans cited Argentina as the team they are supporting at the tournament. This was followed by Germany (18%), Spain (15%), and fourth place in Irish fans’ affections was shared by England and Brazil who were chosen by 10 percent of respondents.
When asked “Which team will you be hoping fares badly?” nearly one third chose France - showing that Irish fans don’t forgive and forget too quickly as they hark back to Thierry Henry’s infamous hand-ball incident in Paris that denied the Republic a place at the last World Cup in South Africa 2010.
A slightly smaller 30 percent of fans said they hoped England would do badly this summer, indicating, perhaps, that our traditional reluctance to support England - while on the wane - is not totally gone.
Predicting the player of the tournament proved to be an equally clear-cut affair with 28 percent going for Argentina’s Lionel Messi as the one to watch this summer. Brazil’s Neymar (22%) and Argentina’s Sergio Aguero (19%) were the next most popular picks.
Some 26 percent predicted Argentina and Brazil will battle it out in the final on 13 July. Brazil v Germany is the next mod popular prediction (21%). The clear favourite to win the tournament is Brazil (31%) followed by Argentina (24%) and Spain (19%).
On our qualification for the next tournament, the 2016 UEFA European championship in France, 95 percent of the youboysingreen.ie fan base feel sure that Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane’s boys will do the business and get us there.
“When all the predictions are said and done, I think most people are just looking forward to a memorable tournament with lots of attacking football and loads of goals,” said Mr Dennigan. “And let’s hope, as our survey suggests that in two years’ time we’re in France getting ready to play our part.”
The survey was carried out on-line on the youboysingreen.ie website and represents the views of some 300 Irish fans.
