Unleashing the Underdogs

::the ball is round::

Everyone has asked me who I support for the World Cup, which I try to watch faithfully every night (the interesting matches)… My answer is the underdogs, and let me qualify that. The underdogs equals those who are economically less stable than the other team. I rationalise this by saying that the country that is wealthy does not require a win to ensure national solidarity. A poorer country will greatly benefit from a win in the World Cup, creating a sense of national spirit and patriotism, an outlet away from woes.

See the following table:

  • Rank 1: US: GDP 12,485,725
  • Rank 2: Japan: 4,571314
  • Rank 3: Germany: 2,797,343
  • Rank 5: UK: 2,201,473
  • Rank 6: France: 2,105,864
  • Rank 7: Italy: 1,766,160
  • Rank 9: Spain: 1,126,565
  • Rank 10: South Korea: 793,070
  • Rank 11: Brazil: 792,683
  • Rank 15: Australia: 707,992
  • Rank 16: Netherlands: 625,271
  • Rank 18: Switzerland: 367,513
  • Rank 22: Saudi Arabia: 307,770
  • Rank 33: Portugal: 183,436
  • Rank 34: Argentina: 181,662
  • Rank 40: Czech Republic: 123, 603
  • Rank 53: Ukraine: 81,664
  • Rank 63: Croatia: 37,553
  • Rank 68: Tunisia: 30,185
  • Rank 89: Trinidad & Tobago: 15,870
  • Rank 100: Ghana: 10,694

Just to give an idea of where we stand, Malaysia is ranked 39th with GDP of 130,796. Data is in millions of US dollars. This is taken from the IMF, World Economic Outlook Database April 2006. So, by logical conclusion, I will support all those countries from the bottom up – up till and until they are kicked out from the tournament.

I might not be a loyalist to any one team, but heck, these countries ain't even my own. I might as well support them for a valid reason and principle! 🙂 Go Go Ghana!

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