World Cup 2014, Brazil

[Ybbon]

OK, let's get ready to discuss everything World Cup!

Group A
Brazil
Croatia
Mexico
Cameroon

Group B
Spain
Netherlands
Chile
Australia

Group C
Colombia
Greece
Ivory Coast
Japan

Group D
Uruguay
Costa Rica
England
Italy

Group E
Switzerland
Ecuador
France
Honduras

Group F
Argentina
Bosnia
Iran
Nigeria

Group G
Germany
Portugal
Ghana
United States

Group H
Belgium
Algeria
Russia
South Korea

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First Game, June 12th, Brazil vs Croatia, Sao Paulo

[Sharpe]

First game 12th of June!!! Anyone else buzzing for this?! Beer and BBQ and the World Cup! What more is there to life?

[Charlatan]

I'd be much more confident about England's chances if JT returned to the team, barring the first game we've relatively good kick off times GMT. I am looking forward to the World cup as a whole as long as the Brazilian fans behave themselves. (Could be mass protests against the government). Also World in Motion kicks Baddiel and Skinners ass.

[Wulfburk]

^ There probably will be protests, as long as they are peaceful, so what? I'll go to every protest in my city, and i'll watch every damn game of the cup! (hypocrit much? Well no, since the protests are a demonstration of the brazilian people crying out for a better lifestyle generally and against the reckless spending of tax payer money. There is no point in trying to boycott the cup as a few brazilians say, since all the money has been already spent, obviously) Though there is a thin line between vandals and protesters (where the media joins in generalizing as the first), everyone in their sane mind support such non violent protests (or they should)

[Scipio Afracanis]

So which Groups are considered the groups of Death?

G? I know very little about the ball played with the foot but I know Germany and Portugal are top tier teams, Ghana is an above avg. team? and USA avg. or below(probably the latter).

I know Spain and Brazil are also top tier.

Educate this yank on the goings on's of the game I will not call soccer.

Edit: If someone could rank the teams in terms of best chances of winning/ most talented ect.... that would be helpful so I know which games to watch. Mahalo

[Wulfburk]

Group of death is definetly D

Educate this yank on the goings on's of the game I will not call soccer.

Edit: If someone could rank the teams in terms of best chances of winning/ most talented ect.... that would be helpful so I know which games to watch. Mahalo

Real contenders in my humble opinion (brazilian btw, and not necessarily in order)

Brazil
Argentina
Spain
Netherlands
Germany

Teams closer to the top than the bottom
Italy
France
England
Uruguay
Portugal
Chile
Belgium


Btw on group D, im betting on Uruguay first and England 2nd (Italy being left out at group phase, gorgeous...)

[Ybbon]

So which Groups are considered the groups of Death?

G? I know very little about the ball played with the foot but I know Germany and Portugal are top tier teams, Ghana is an above avg. team? and USA avg. or below(probably the latter).

I know Spain and Brazil are also top tier.

Educate this yank on the goings on's of the game I will not call soccer.

Edit: If someone could rank the teams in terms of best chances of winning/ most talented ect.... that would be helpful so I know which games to watch. Mahalo

B and G are both groups with strong teams in. Germany are always strong and they have a lot of decent players. Portugal scraped in this year, they have a few good players, but whether they have enough to carry them through to the latter stages I doubt it.

Spain are strong, Argentina and Brazil are always going to be a threat. This year Uruguay again have some outstanding players, particularly up-front, if the rest of the team can supply them, they can easily score enough to get them far.

Belgium are a good dark horse, one of the African teams might also make a decent run this year.

Much as I would love England to go far, they don't have the team this year to go really far, more a team in transition. Italy too old.

Call it soccer if you want, it was a name invented by English Public Schools to distinguish Association Football from Rugby Football.

I chose Spain as I still reckon they have the best and most in-depth squad, Brazil because it is in Brazil, and Germany.

[Azog 150]

I do look forward to the World Cup. Its the one time I'll get excited about England, and its always nice to be able to sit alongside your mates (who hold less-palatable club persuasions) and cheer on the same team. And then you can pretend you never liked England anyway when they lose.

Unfortunately I will be away at a music festival in Scotland for our first fixture, so I doubt I'll get to see it.

[Ybbon]

Unfortunately I will be away at a music festival in Scotland for our first fixture, so I doubt I'll get to see it.

Just ask them to put the England game on a big screen, should be fine with that

[Petrucci]

Go go Belgium, the best European team at the moment!

[Colossus]

I doubt whether Belgium will deliver when it comes to the World Cup to be honest.

[Wulfburk]

If by deliver you mean winning the damn thing, probably not. Honestly in the next 10 world cups i bet we wont have any new debut champion BUT leaving an exception to the most honourable runner up, Netherlands. They gotta win it sometime....

[Facupay]

I'm kinda worried about Group D, besidess Costa Rica everyone has a fair chance of going through so the matches are going to be extremely tough and rven If we manage to go through the team could be in bad shape.

[Sharpe]

I'm kinda worried about Group D, besidess Costa Rica everyone has a fair chance of going through so the matches are going to be extremely tough and rven If we manage to go through the team could be in bad shape.

Group D sucks, three teams from the world's top 10 in there.

[Erebus Pasha]

I doubt whether Belgium will deliver when it comes to the World Cup to be honest.

I would love to see Belgium perform at this World Cup. Other than England, they will be the team that I will want to see do well. I just get this feeling though that they won't deal with the expectation that has been placed upon them by the media. In addition I have concerns about their backline and their forward options. Other than Kompany, not many of Belgium's first choice defenders have been getting regular first team football, and they've been hit by Benteke's injury up front, meanwhile Lukaku hasn't been really hitting the heights for Everton that he did earlier in the season either.

[snuggans]

England's chances to get past the group stage are muuuuuuuch better than the US, they're the ones i'm really feeling sorry for. Germany, Portugal, AND Ghana? wow. i'm wondering if they'll win even one match.
as in past World Cups, i'll be rooting for the three lions.

[Candy_Licker]

lol too many Brits here.

When was the last time the English national team played sth. that resembles football?

[Colossus]

Don't get me wrong, our national team is terrible. It could be good, but Roy is far too conservative to do what needs to be done! I don't think Italy are that good to be honest, nor are Uruguay if you take away the attack, but no one seems to think England will get a win against either.

Obviously the expectation for Belgium is not to win, but as above, you look at the team, and there is very little that is world class there. Striking options are very thin, and if Hazard doesn't show up, which is a possibility, they don't have much threat in midfield either. A lot of the players have done well in the Premier League, but then that hasn't helped England much! Saying that, they may play without the same fear and just attack teams, which if Benteke/Lukaku were fit and on form, would be dangerous. Their group is pretty bad though, so I would expect them to get to the quarter finals.

People seem to be talking Colombia up quite a bit as well (who also have an easy group as it happens) - what do people think about them?

[Petrucci]

Falacao and Martinez. Never heard about any other columbian player or great results of their team.

[Wulfburk]

Colombia has got a good team, but Chile is definetly better. i wont get surprised if Chile steals Spain's or Netherland's classification, though its unlikely.