Argentina, the United States and Iran appear to be the most disliked World Cup teams. Brazilian fans enter the World Cup as the most confident, though Argentines and Spaniards aren’t far behind in their home-country optimism. And fans across many countries agree that the Brazilians play the most attractive form of soccer.

These are among the results from a study of people in 19 countries conducted by YouGov, the online survey firm, in collaboration with The Upshot. The study offers insight into the psyche of fans around the world as they prepare for the most watched tournament in sports.

Highlights include:

■ Politics, geography and good old schadenfreude seem to play a strong role in rooting. A plurality of Mexican respondents named the United States as their least-favorite team. Brazilians chose Argentines, and vice versa. Greeks named their bankers: both Germany and the United States. Elsewhere in Europe, the wounds of an old war seem long forgotten; few fans named Germany as their most disliked team. In Asia, by contrast, Japan and South Korea do not like each other. The United States, Argentina and Iran each have more than their share of haters around the world.

■ A strong plurality of fans in only three countries — Argentina, Brazil and Spain – predict their own country to win the tournament. (A plurality in the United States also picked the home team to win, against all odds, but that plurality consisted of only 14 percent of Americans; the rest picked another team or said they didn’t know who would win.) Everywhere else, the most common prediction was Brazil. In many countries, the home team was the second- or third-most commonly predicted winner. One notable exception: England. The English just don’t believe in their team anymore.