The start of a new season is always a little overwhelming. This is even more true if you are a new fan of the game, or looking for a new team to support. How do you find said team, or even choose a league? Who is the player that you will follow like a brother and a hero? Well, here at The18 we don’t believe in false promises, so we can’t say that we will introduce you to the team of your dreams….but we probably will.
Soccer is diverse and ever changing. There is too much personality in soccer for it to stay constant, so the team you fall in love with today will not be the same tomorrow. Yet, like people, there are some things about clubs that never change. So, we are going to explore these team “personalities," if you will, from the artistic to the brutal, all in the name of finding you your perfect team.
Liverpool
Words cannot put into perspective the romantic passion that you must have to be a true follower of Liverpool. Luckily for The18, this video should do the trick.
That night in Instabul, the world found out exactly how powerful the human element in soccer can be. Down 3-0 at halftime of the 2005 Champion’s League Final, Liverpool should have lost. No one, however, told that to the thousands of Liverpool fans in attendance.
The Liverpool supporters began a glorious rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” and every single person in that stadium began to believe in Liverpool again. You can see it on the faces of fans who believe that their sporting icons just might give them that rarest of moments: the improbably and utterly inspiring come from behind win. You can see it in Steven Gerrard, an utter legend of a player, who takes full advantage of the crowd’s energy and galvanizes his teammates with it. All because of that single song.
The 2005 Champion’s League Final in Istanbul is on the short list of greatest sport moments of all time, and it couldn’t have happened to any other club than Liverpool. The club’s illustrious history gives every game a gravity for its fans that allow nights like the one in Istanbul to happen.
That is the glory of following Liverpool: You are a club of history, romance, and passion, and in any given match you will run into all three.
Arsenal
This team is not for the weak of heart, because there is a good chance Arsenal will leave it on the floor in tiny little pieces. That, however, is the price you pay for chasing footballing perfection. Arsenal don’t score goals, they paint masterpieces.
This instance of scoring the perfect goal is fueled by manager Arsene Wenger’s ever present flock of attack-minded players. Wenger is a man of vision, philosophy, and, quite frankly, stubborness. His purchase of Mesut Oezil from Real Madrid was at once a statement of ambition and a cementing of his beliefs.
Everyone and their mother knew that Arsenal needed a striker that transfer window, or at the very least a defensive midfielder, but Arsene decided to purchase the crown jewel of attacking midfielders.
Mesut Oezil has been considered the best number 10 in the world, and his purchase meant Arsenal now had one of the best midfields on the planet. Mesut is a microcosm of Arsenal, for better and for frustratingly worse.
Arsenal are always almost there. A run at the top of the league before Christmas is chronically followed by a collapse in spring. Oezil — in his own, Arsenal-like way — can drop off assists so juicy that his teammates can’t help but score, yet his own finishing prowess leaves a lot wanting.
While this past spring’s FA Cup win ended almost a decade of trophy-less failure for Arsenal, there is no guarantee that the club will join soccer’s elite anytime soon.
They may never be the best team of the season, but they will probably score the best goal of the season.
Atletico Madrid
You cannot paint Atletico as underdogs, because, quite frankly, they have been winning too much lately to warrant that title. Be that as it may, there is no getting away from the fact that Atletico feel like they are the pesky hero in some cinema classic. They won La Liga last season despite competing with the league’s double-headed monster of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
In many ways, they are the people’s champion in Spain. A team with the rare ability to unite every kind of sports fan, from those who refuse to root for teams that are too good, to your drunk uncle with a heart of gold.
As Madrid’s second son, Atletico are always upstaged by Real Madrid’s glaring white aura, but they play the role so well. They know that they deserve victory, because they work so much harder than everyone else. However, like so many champions, they are not without a tragic flaw: they simply do not have star power.
This was never more relevant than during this past spring’s Champion’s League Final. Atletico was without its only star, Diego Costa. Nevertheless, Atletico scored the most Atletico of goals, and they came within minutes of being crowned the best club team in the world. But then Sergio Ramos equalized, Gareth Bale took the lead, and Cristiano Ronaldo even put a penalty-kick cherry on top. Oh, and then Diego Costa was bought by Chelsea a few months later.
But, Atletico Madrid doesn’t need stars, they don’t have time to deal with a prima donna. You ride or die with Atletico, and, boy, the ride can be one hell of a good time:
Real Madrid
Success. Everything about Real Madrid is bathed in that one word. Since the new millennium, Real Madrid has defined itself by gathering the top talent from around the world, no matter what the cost. When these superstars take to the pitch in their regal, gleaming white kits, you realize that you are about to watch soccer royalty. This is the club that brought Zidane, Beckham, and Ronaldo together, and there is no way to forget that.
As you step into life as a Real Madrid supporter, you begin to realize that you just made a serious upgrade. No more slumming it with mediocre stars with average social lives unworthy of tabloids. Your’s is the team of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, and James Rodriguez. These are the faces of the football world, gods of soccer.
That is James Rodriguez, the latest golden boy to join los Blancos. This wonder strike was the second goal in Real Madrid's recent destruction of Deportivo La Coruna. After scoring a goal like that for Real Madrid, he knows he has made it. Every time match day rolls around, you will feel like you made it, too.
Stoke City
Let’s just get this out of the way, no one likes Stoke City and its supporters, except for Stoke City and its supporters. This is due to the players’ reputation as being a bunch of big, bad, bruisers who injure rival players left and right and score only the ugliest of goals.
Whether their reputation is fair or unfair is up for debate, but The18 feels it had better warn you: by walking into a pub with a Stoke kit on you are playing with a social handicap. You may have to unexpectedly pay more for a beer, or watch your back when you leave the pub after a victory. This may bother you, or, in true Stoke fashion, you could simply not give a f***.
We can already tell that all of this is right up some of your alleys. Dark, damp, beer-bottle littered alleys. There is a brotherhood at Stoke that is undeniable. You know you can count on Stoke supporters in almost any situation because your union is forged by hard work, a tough guy mentality, and, occasionally, a brilliant goal:
This was the best quality video we could find of that goal — a recording of a telecast — because that’s how Stoke rolls.
