Portugal play(s) well.

[Andrew Patterson]

Tigertiger wrote:

Food is not always uncountable.

When we use type/kinds of, 'The foods of the world', for example.

This is pedantry, not particularly helpful to the discussion in hand, and in fact, not even correct. "Foods" is a pluralised uncountable noun. That is to say, in and of itself, "food" is still uncountable just as "people" is a plural of person and "peoples" is the plural of "people".

[tigertiger]

Tigertiger wrote:

Food is not always uncountable.

When we use type/kinds of, 'The foods of the world', for example.

This is pedantry, not particularly helpful to the discussion in hand, and in fact, not even correct. "Foods" is a pluralised uncountable noun. That is to say, in and of itself, "food" is still uncountable just as "people" is a plural of person and "peoples" is the plural of "people".

Andrew
This whole discussion is pedantary.

And if I wanted to be rude I could describe your quoted response as very pedantic, but I won't. Oops

[Stephen Jones]

If it's uncountable it can't be plural; period.

One of the more interesting aspects is that food can be uncountable or plural but is rarely singular; we are likely to say 'one of the foods; but rarely if ever 'one food'.

[lolwhites]

What is this "we" sh*t??? England cheats!!! Not just Crouch, or Terry and Beckham, but every last one of them! It's their culture!

My point was that England cheats (or Portugal, Italy or whoever) sounds a bit odd to me, and England dives sounds even odder, though England play sounds fine. I was suggesting that the verb used is going to affect whether the speaker will conceptualise the team as a single entity or a group of individuals. I've yet to see eleven men dive simultaneously on a football field, but if I do, I think I'd be more likely say say Everton are diving than Everton is diving.