team names

Okay, I promise that I won't make ALL my posts this week be about the World Cup, but I do want to talk a minute about team names.

I never realized that teams really had names. I thought they were just called by whatever country they were.

But then I was listening to the announcers who talked about Australia being called the "socceroos" which is about the most adorable team name that I have ever heard!

So then I had to do a little bit of research to find out if the US had a team name. We do. We are "the yanks." (yawn!) Boring!

Here are the other ones...

Algeria - The Desert Foxes

Argentina - La Albiceleste (the White and Sky Blue, the national colors)

Australia - The Socceroos (A fantastic combination of kangaroos, soccer, and Aussie sensibility)

Brazil - A Selecao (the Selection); The Samba Kings; Verde-Amarela (Green and Yellow); Canarinho (Little Canary); Scratch du Oro (the Golden Squad)

Cameroon - Les Lions Indomables (The Indomitable Lions)

Chile - La Roja (The Red One); El Equipo de Todos (Everbody's Team)... how did Chile with zero World Cup championships get two nicknames?

Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) - Les Elephants (This translation is a shocker... the Elephants, and it's an appropriate enough name for a country with Ivory in its name)

Denmark - The Danish Dynamite; Olsen-Banden (The Olsen Gang); Olsens Elleve (Olsen's Eleven)... the multiple nicknames here stem from unabashed love for longtime coach Morten Olsen.

England - The Three Lions

France- Les Bleus (The Bleu Cheeses, er, I mean... the Blues); L'Equipe Tricolore (The Tri-color Team, apparently disregarding the many other countries with three colors in their flag)

Germany - Die Manschaft (the Team, a very creative name for a very creative people)

Ghana- The Black Stars
Greece - Galanoleyki (The blue and white, representing the colors); the Phalanx (after the old, unbreakable troop formation); Ethniki (the National Team)... here multiple nicknames stem from a general disagreement about what to call the team, and a limited record of international success

Honduras - Los Catrachos (the Hondurans... appropriately enough); La Bicolor (The Double Colored, for the country's colors)

Italy - The Azzurri (The Blue... yes, international soccer teams love the color blue)

Japan - The Samurai Blue (international soccer's love of blue, combined with Japanese tradition)

Korea DPR (North Korea) - The Chollima (The Thousand-Mile Horse, a mythical winged horse)

Korea Republic (South Korea) -Taegeuk Jeonsa (The Taegeuk Warriors, Taegeuk being similar to the concept of yin and yang, the symbol of which is found on their flag)

Mexico - El Tri (The Three, for the colors of the flag... I tried to warn France that there were others)

Netherlands - The Oranje (The Orange); The Flying Dutchmen; La Naranja Mecanica (Clockwork Orange)

New Zealands - The All Whites (The country's national rugby team is the All Blacks)

Nigeria - The Super Eagles

Paraguay - Guaranies (An indigenous people from South America); La Abirroja (The White and Red)

Portugal - Seleccao das Quinas (National Team of the Five)

Serbia - The White Eagles (Take that, Nigeria)

Slovakia - Repre; The Fighting Jondas

Slovenia - Zmajceki (Dragons; also The Green Dragons)

South Africa- Bafana Bafana (The Boys)

Spain- La Furia Roja (The Red Fury); La Furia (The Fury); La Furia Espanola (The Spanish Fury)

Switzerland- The Schweizer Nati (The Swiss National Team)

Uruguay - La Celeste (The Sky Blue); La Celeste Olimpica (The Olympic Sky Blue), Charruas (indigenous South American peoples)

USA - The Yanks (sadly enough for fans in Red Sox Nation)