World Soccer: I need a pro team to follow

Not that there is an "official award" but I nominate Rogorn for June's "Member of the Month" award.

Both for his extensive reply here & his contribution to the Euro 2008 thread.

Of course an "honourable mention" has to go to Mr Woodside for his running of the Euro 2008 prediction game & his barefaced bias here (especially when contrasted to Rogorn's post) made me chuckle.

As to the question. Well that made me chuckle a bit too as it reads to me (a born cynic I will admit) like a beautifully crafted "troll masterpiece".

As to the answer - I can't really add much to what Rogorn has already said. I'm an "underdog" fan myself so would agree with Mr Woodside that picking a team outside "the ten" would be a good idea. I'd also feel free to pick a team from each league you're going to be watching (assuming you're going to be watching lots).

My personal (pointless) recommendations - just because they are "personal":

Premier League: Arsenal (from the big four), Aston Villa (from outside). Arsenal play the most watchable football (though Man U are good too but if you picked them you'd lose all credibility amongst most "real" fans), Villa have a great manager & a young team (plenty of English players) and you'll get an early start to the season (they're in the Intertoto). Plus of course you should be cheering like mad for all the promoted teams (West Brom, Stoke & Hull City).

Serie A: From the big three Milan are the lesser of three evils. If you think there's a "big four" Roma are infinitely preferable. Outside that Fiorentina are in the Champions League & have an excellent manager, and if you ever plan to visit southern Italy being a Napoli fan (above all other Italian teams) would probably get you great kudos.

La Liga: Of the "big two" - Barcelona - although my reasons for liking them are diminishing. For me Spain have a lot of other very "likeable" teams but Atletico Madrid are edging it for me for next season as - depending on their qualifying draw they should be hitting the CL group stage for the first time in a long time. And they have Sergio Aguero.

Elsewhere: Zenit in the Champions League (provided they keep enough of their UEFA Cup players to play the same type of wonderful attacking football); Wolfsburg in Germany (& the UEFA Cup) - an underdog with money - and although it's a long time ago now they used to be managed by a guy called Wolfgang Wolf - which is just too good; Saint-Etienne in France (& the UEFA Cup) - Les Verts are in Europe for the first time in a few decades (I think) - a great side in the 70s (before my time) with a fanatical support in France.

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