The build-up to World Cup 2014 Thread

[Gutter Boy]

Good draw for England. At least Costa Rica means we've got a chance of not coming back with 3 defeats.

My prediction - I think Ghana will come second in Group G ahead of Portugal and USA.

I was torn between Colombia and Chile for my tournament outsiders, so think I'll put my money on Colombia after seeing those respective groups.

 

[Hotspur]

Bold going through

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-Herzegovina
Iran
Nigeria

Group G

Germany
Portugal
Ghana
USA

Group H

Belgium
Algeria
Russia
South Korea

 

[Gutter Boy]

For me

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-Herzegovina
Iran
Nigeria

Group G

Germany
Portugal
Ghana
USA

Group H

Belgium
Algeria
Russia
South Korea

 

[Jordinho]

Thursday 12 June

21:00 Brazil - Croatia

Friday 13 June

17:00 Mexico - Cameroon
20:00 Spain - Netherlands
23:00 Chile - Australia

Saturday 14 June

17:00 Colombia - Greece
20:00 Uruguay - Costa Rica
23:00 Ivory Coast - Japan

Sunday 15 June

02:00 England - Italy
17:00 Switzerland - Ecuador
20:00 France - Honduras
23:00 Argentina - Bosnia-Herzegovina

Monday 16 June

17:00 Germany - Portugal
20:00 Iran - Nigeria
23:00 Ghana - USA

Tuesday 17 June

17:00 Belgium - Algeria
20:00 Brazil v Mexico
23:00 Russia - South Korea

Wednesday 18 June

17:00 Australia - Netherlands
20:00 Cameroon - Croatia
23:00 Spain - Chile

Thursday 19 June

17:00 Colombia - Ivory Coast
20:00 Uruguay - England
23:00 Japan - Greece

Friday 20 June

17:00 Italy - Costa Rica
20:00 Switzerland - France
23:00 Honduras - Ecuador

Saturday 21 June

17:00 Argentina - Iran
20:00 Germany - Ghana
23:00 Nigeria - Bosnia-Herzegovina

Sunday 22 June

17:00 South Korea - Algeria
20:00 USA - Portugal
23:00 Belgium - Russia

Monday 23 June

17:00 Australia - Spain
17:00 Netherlands - Chile
21:00 Cameroon - Brazil
21:00 Croatia - Mexico

Tuesday 24 June

17:00 Italy - Uruguay
17:00 Costa Rica - England
21:00 Japan - Colombia
21:00 Greece - Ivory Coast

Wednesday 25 June

17:00 Nigeria - Argentina
17:00 Bosnia-Herzegovina - Iran
21:00 Ecuador - Switzerland
21:00 Honduras - France

Thursday 26 June

17:00 USA - Germany
17:00 Portugal - Ghana
21:00 South Korea - Belgium
21:00 Algeria - Russia

 

[clevelandspur]

USA got ****ed! We all knew that was coming though. Group C & E are a joke how are Colombia and Switzerland ahead of Italy and Netherlands in world rankings?

 

[Mumorn]

USA got ****ed! We all knew that was coming though. Group C & E are a joke how are Colombia and Switzerland ahead of Italy and Netherlands in world rankings?

No idea about Switzerland but Colombia are seriously one of the best national teams right now, lethal and ruthless blessed with pace with one of the best strikers in world football upfront

They embarrassed the golden boys of European football in Belgium.

 

[Jordinho]

 

[clevelandspur]

No idea about Switzerland but Colombia are seriously one of the best national teams right now, lethal and ruthless blessed with pace with one of the best strikers in world football upfront

They embarrassed the golden boys of European football in Belgium.

I don't know much about them besides Falcao to be honest but I still would rather face them then Italy or Netherlands. I mean Netherlands made it to final in last WC and generally regarded as top 5 in the world by everyone so how are Colombia ahead of them?

 

[Mumorn]

I don't know much about them besides Falcao to be honest but I still would rather face them then Italy or Netherlands. I mean Netherlands made it to final in last WC and generally regarded as top 5 in the world by everyone so how are Colombia ahead of them?

No idea how internationals are ranked but up until the confed cup weren't brazil like 17th?

To be honest with Holland, despite their superb qualifying campaign which they always have, theyre an aging team who were awful at Euro 2012. I wouldn't be able to tell you one defender they have except Ron vlaar

 

[Jordinho]

World Cup Predictor Game: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10501412/World-Cup-2014-Wallchart-Predictor-Game.html

 

[Mumorn]

Predictions:

Group A
Brazil
Croatia


Group B
Spain
Chile


Group C
Colombia
Japan


Group D
England
Italy


Group E
Switzerland
France


Group F
Argentina
Bosnia-Herzegovina


Group G
Germany
Portugal


Group H
Belgium
Russia

--

Round of 16:

Brazil def. Chile
Colombia def. Italy
Bosnia def. Switzerland
Germany def. Russia
Spain def. Croatia
England def. Japan
Argentina def. France
Portugal def. Belgium


Quarter Finals

Brazil def. Colombia
Germany def. Bosnia
Spain def. England
Argentina def. Portugal


Semi Finals

Argentina def. Spain
Brazil def. Germany


Final

Argentina def. Brazil

 

[braineclipse]

USA got ****ed! We all knew that was coming though. Group C & E are a joke how are Colombia and Switzerland ahead of Italy and Netherlands in world rankings?

It's based on the FIFA rankings as far as I know.

FIFA rankings are decided based on results over the last 4 years, some criteria about qualifying/tournament matches counting more and games against higher ranked teams gives you more points etc. Essentially Columbia and Switzerland got ahead of Italy and Netherlands by getting better results than them over the last 4 years. It's not a perfect ranking system, but I can't think of an obviously better one to be honest.


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Some tasty looking groups in there. Should be a decent World Cup, then again I always end up enjoying it.

 

[Jordinho]

I have Brazil - Germany and Argentina - Spain in the semis.

A lot of the group games will be bore fests, but the knock out stage is packed with great games.

 

[Hotspur]

No idea how internationals are ranked but up until the confed cup weren't brazil like 17th?

To be honest with Holland, despite their superb qualifying campaign which they always have, theyre an aging team who were awful at Euro 2012. I wouldn't be able to tell you one defender they have except Ron vlaar

Vertonghen?

 

[braineclipse]

I have Brazil - Germany and Argentina - Spain in the semis.

A lot of the group games will be bore fests, but the knock out stage is packed with great games.

The first round of group games tend to be rather boring, neither team willing to take a risk so unless there's a goal then both will be very cautious. From the second round on I think the games get much more entertaining with some games where both teams need a win or at least where one team won't be happy with a draw.

 

[Rossi22]

Want to see Sandro vs Modric.

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

What a terrible draw for the press, surely they can't over hype England in this group and it won't give them a chance to crucify them when they fail.

 

[AuroRaman]

Can I just shock you?

I think England may get to at least the semis.

Vertonghen?

I giggled!

 

[markysimmo]

The account @FraudeMundial14 20 hours ago have tweeted:1)the exact Argentina group;2)that Italy would have be moved from their pot;

They tweeted only those 2 infos saying: 'We want to fight corruption but don't want to destroy expectations:so we'll tweet only these"

 

[P.D.]

It's based on the FIFA rankings as far as I know.

FIFA rankings are decided based on results over the last 4 years, some criteria about qualifying/tournament matches counting more and games against higher ranked teams gives you more points etc. Essentially Columbia and Switzerland got ahead of Italy and Netherlands by getting better results than them over the last 4 years. It's not a perfect ranking system, but I can't think of an obviously better one to be honest.


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Some tasty looking groups in there. Should be a decent World Cup, then again I always end up enjoying it.

Good article here on how the rankings are worked out

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25134584

Basically Netherlands did themselves in and lowered their own score by playing a friendly against a low ranked team which brought down their points total, would have been top seeds otherwise.