A HOLIDAY romance hardly seems to be the most sensible of reasons to adopt a nation's football team.
One booze-fuelled night in Tirana with the local version of James Bond baddy Rosa Klebb and you could find your happiness and the fortunes of the the Albanian nation irrevocably linked.
Suddenly England's failure to qualify for the European Championships doesn't seem half as bad does it?
According to a recent survey commissioned by a leading computer game manufacturer, a holiday relationship in the past is exactly why 100,000 Brits will be cheering on Italy when the tournament kicks-off this weekend.
Love of the locals was touted as another reason by the 1,153 folk asked by EA Sports to name which team they would be following in Austria and Switzerland.
Which pretty much explains Germany's absence from a top five also made-up of Holland, Spain, France and Greece.
But there are no shortage of reasons to keep a close eye on events at Euro 2008.
Being crowned Champions of Europe is arguably tougher than winning the World Cup: As Italy may well find-out. Condensed qualification means that every country represented at the finals can argue a decent case for winning. There are no minnows. No easy games against no-hopers.
Wag Free Footy: With Fabio Capello's squad soaking-up the sun on faraway beaches, hopefully the talk will be about the brilliance of Cassano and Klasnic rather than Colleen and Clancy.
Expect the unexpected: Greece shocked the continent by triumphing in Portugal and although the usual suspects will again be strong contenders, Russia look a good outside bet.
The scenery: Forget alpine meadows and snowy mountain peaks. TV producers always find something especially pleasing on the eye in the crowd. Usually Dutch. Or Czech.
Star-spotting: While the spotlight centres on Ronaldo, Torres and Co, a handful of players are bound to step out of the shadows and win themselves a move to one of the continent's big clubs.
Happy viewing!
What do you think? Post your comments below. READ MORE Football headlinesMore BladesMore OwlsMore SpireitesMore RoversMore RedsMore MillersMore Ice HockeyMore rugby leagueMore rugby unionMore boxingSports columnistsAll sport categoriesThe full article contains 381 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
