It's a Small World (Cup), After All

Today's World Cup final promises to be a good one, but it raises an interesting question for me: Who should I pull for? With our countrymen making a less-than-stellar appearance and my sentimental favorite England eliminated, I'm sort of at a loss as to who to throw my support behind. Basically the way my international allegiances work are simple. After the US, I cheer for countries:

1. I've been to (many European nations)
2. I've met cool people from (Australia, New Zealand, and a few others)
3. With awesome flags (Bhutan, Kiribati)
   
4. I've heard of (Myanmar, Trinidad and Tobago, Latvia, etc)
   

The problem with this game, however, is that I've visited (and had hella-good times in) both Italy and France, so my usual system doesn't apply here (Italy vs. Togo would've been a no-brainer).

As I was pondering this predicament, I started looking back at some of my old photos from my trips to these two countries, hoping to jar some memory that might give an edge to one or the other. Here are a few of my favorites:

ITALY

FRANCE

In the end though, there was no clear winner between the two. In fact the only thing it made me realize is how bad I'd like to get back to Europe. So ultimately it looks like I'll be forced to take the oh-so-lame position of "I'm just hoping for a good game."

And I don't think there's any danger of that not working out.