EU coy on president's World Cup hopes

BRUSSELS, June 9 (Reuters) Being president of the European Commission brings many perks, but being able to cheer openly for your national soccer team in the World Cup appears not to be one of them.

''I'm sure he is as interested as you all are in this room that the best European team wins,'' Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen, a spokeswoman for Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, told a briefing when asked which team the former Portuguese prime minister would be supporting in the tournament.

''He will be linking up with the team of the country he knows best when he is attending a match on Sunday, invited by the German federal government,'' she added to laughs from reporters.

Portugal plays Angola in their opening game of the World Cup in Germany on Sunday.

''The country I know best'' is the circumlocution long used in the EU executive where national loyalties are frowned on.

Ten teams from European Union countries are taking part in the tournament.

Reuters DH DS1635