FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil

[Commander Chopper]

The following 32 teams have qualified:

Africa: Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria

Asia: Australia, Iran, Japan, South Korea

Europe: Belgium, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland

North & Central America & Caribbean: Costa Rica, Honduras, United States, Mexico

South America: Argentina, Brazil (hosts), Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Uruguay

Brazil look like the favorites since they will have the home advantage and have rebuilt a good team under Scolari.

The draw to determine the 8 different groups will take place on friday in Brasil.The pots for the draw are as follows:

! Pot 1:
! Brazil (Pot X)
Spain
Argentina (Pot X)
Colombia (Pot X)
Switzerland
Belgium
Germany
Uruguay (Pot X)
! Pot 2:
! Ghana
Cameroon
Ivory Coast
Algeria
Nigeria
Chile
Ecuador
EUROPEAN TEAM X
! Pot 3:
! United States
Mexico
Honduras
Costa Rica
Iran
South Korea
Japan
Australia
! Pot 4:
! England
Netherlands
Italy
Portugal
Russia
Croatia
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Greece
France
As you can see there are 9 teams in pot 4(the European pot) and only 7 in pot 2.On Friday,before the main draw that will determine the groups,there will be a draw to determine which team of pot 4 will be versed in pot 2.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

It's really a disgrace that fifa chose to determine the European team in pot 2 with a draw.Normally France should be in pot 2 since they have the lowest fifa ranking among European teams.It's unfair to the European team that will be versed in pot 2(in case it's not France).

[Bishokuya33]

we could possibly have 3-4 very hard groups, should be a great world cup.

2010 was kinda boring IMO.

[Commander Chopper]

@Bishokuya33:

we could possibly have 3-4 very hard groups, should be a great world cup.

2010 was kinda boring IMO.

Europe will send it's best representatives,unlike in 2010.And south american teams have levelled up.That's what makes this WC look more promising than 4 years ago.

[Dryish]

I am going to both love and hate the absence of Vuvuzelas this time around. They were the best thing in how annoying they were.

[Smiley]

:ninja:

[Stalley]

@Bishokuya33:

we could possibly have 3-4 very hard groups, should be a great world cup.

2010 was kinda boring IMO.

Yeah i really can't wait although i would bet a lot of money on Brazil they are never going to lose at home

[Mrs. Iceburg]

Super looking forward to this, I have great hopes for Belgium. But I'm convinced Germany is going to win.

[Stalley]

@Mrs.:

Super looking forward to this, I have great hopes for Belgium. But I'm convinced Germany is going to win.

Belgium has a good chance to reach the Semi Finals but i think they will lose after that. their team is highly unexperienced at the highest stage. And they miss real world class players who can change the match with a single skill. Only Hazard is kind of capable of that but Hazard is not that good when he is playing for Belgium. Germany is a huge favorite because their team is just brilliant. Young talent mixed with experienced world class players. But they will have a problem at the midfield because there are too much quality players who have to sit on the bench. Ozil, Schweinsteiger, Muller and Reus are the only ones who are certain of a starting place. And then we also got Gotze, Draxler, Kroos, Podolski, Schurrle, Bender, Gundogan and Khedira(although Khedira is out for a couple of months but they said he could make the world cup.) If low can find a solid midfield with fluent attacking play they can disgrace every team even Brazil. Spain isn't a real threat anymore unless Barca recovers their form and Xavi and Iniesta play like they did in 2010/2011.

[Mrs. Iceburg]

@Stalley:

Belgium has a good chance to reach the Semi Finals but i think they will lose after that. their team is highly unexperienced at the highest stage. And they miss real world class players who can change the match with a single skill. Only Hazard is kind of capable of that but Hazard is not that good when he is playing for Belgium. Germany is a huge favorite because their team is just brilliant. Young talent mixed with experienced world class players. But they will have a problem at the midfield because there are too much quality players who have to sit on the bench. Ozil, Schweinsteiger, Muller and Reus are the only ones who are certain of a starting place. And then we also got Gotze, Draxler, Kroos, Podolski, Schurrle, Bender, Gundogan and Khedira(although Khedira is out for a couple of months but they said he could make the world cup.) If low can find a solid midfield with fluent attacking play they can disgrace every team even Brazil. Spain isn't a real threat anymore unless Barca recovers their form and Xavi and Iniesta play like they did in 2010/2011.

Well semi finals would be awesome. A similar achievement dates from '86, and people still aren't over it here :p
But Hazard is not the only star player in our team, there are a bunch of really good ones, like Lukaku or De Bruyne. And they play together really well as a team. So yeah, semi finals would be great.
I don't think any team out there right now is capable of defeating Germany more than once unless with a good deal of luck. Just look at how they dominated the Champions League.

And yeah, Spain has just gotten generally too old. And I'm pretty sure something inside the universe would break if they would win again haha.

What do you reckon about the Netherlands? They were really close last time.

[cooldud]

Thing is, Spain don't really depend a big deal on Xavi and Iniesta. They have the following players off the top of my head who can easily slot in those positions without a huge loss in quality: Cesc, Thiago, Javi Martinez and Isco.

The Spanish talent conveyor belt is truly frightening. Their only enemies are the weather and themselves.

[KageKageKing]

Australia isn't from Asia, man.

[cooldud]

@KageKageKing:

Australia isn't from Asia, man.

They play in the Asian confederation.

Wrap your head around this: Kazakhstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey play in the European confederation.

Oh, and so does Israel.

[Dryish]

@KageKageKing:

Australia isn't from Asia, man.

They technically are because instead of getting a free pass as the winner of the Oceanic regional preliminaries, they have to play a qualifier match against the 4th seeded Asian country to qualify.

Or at least that's how it used to be? Did they move recently, or something?

[cooldud]

@Toraish:

They technically are because instead of getting a free pass as the winner of the Oceanic regional preliminaries, they have to play a qualifier match against the 4th seeded Asian country to qualify.

Nope. Australia are now part of the Asian Football Confederation. Have been since 2006. Take part in the AFC Asian Cup which they finished runners-up of in 2011 and are hosting in 2015.

[Dryish]

Aight, figures. I haven't followed the sport actively since… probably 2002? I watch every World Cup and European Championship, but that's as far as it goes for me. Hockey is a far superior sport in terms of the entertainment value I get out of watching and following something.

Does the winning Oceanic team still do that entire vs. Asia's 4th thing, though? New Zealand was there last time, but there's no team from that region in the running this year. Unsurprisingly, yes, but regardless.

[Silverblade]

It has been 12 years since we had a South American champion. Long enough. So I hope Argentina and Uruguay will do something about that.

And Russia? Maybe 2014 will be the year when we finally go to the second round lol.

@Stalley:

Yeah i really can't wait although i would bet a lot of money on Brazil they are never going to lose at home

Never.

Except for 1950.

@KageKageKing:

Australia isn't from Asia, man.

Only geographically.

[cooldud]

@Toraish:

Does the winning Oceanic team still do that entire vs. Asia's 4th thing, though? New Zealand was there last time, but there's no team from that region in the running this year. Unsurprisingly, yes, but regardless.

They had to play in a play-off against the fourth team from CONCACAF, the North American Confederation, which was Mexico. They got beat. Soundly.

In 2010, they had to play the fifth team from Asia, which was Bahrain. They defeated them and had a good World Cup (being the only team to leave the tournament undefeated, with three draws).

[Stalley]

@Mrs.:

Well semi finals would be awesome. A similar achievement dates from '86, and people still aren't over it here :p
But Hazard is not the only star player in our team, there are a bunch of really good ones, like Lukaku or De Bruyne. And they play together really well as a team. So yeah, semi finals would be great.
I don't think any team out there right now is capable of defeating Germany more than once unless with a good deal of luck. Just look at how they dominated the Champions League.

And yeah, Spain has just gotten generally too old. And I'm pretty sure something inside the universe would break if they would win again haha.

What do you reckon about the Netherlands? They were really close last time.

Lukaku is a great player very strong for his age and De Bruyne has a lot of potential it looks like he never fails a pass. Belgium also has Witsel even though he is out of the picture a little bit because he plays in russia he is a brilliant CM he can form a solid midfield with Fellaini. Also Chadli and Mertens where brilliant at the Eredivisie and they are now shining at Chelsea and Napoli. So yeah if they can play like a real team with Kompany as their leader they can beat everyone.

I don't think the Netherlands can come that far the only class players they have are Van Persie and Robben. Strootman is becoming one step by step and Nigel de Jong is just a really good DM. Sneijder is not what he was i remember the Sneijder from Inter that was a beast and their defence is really weak if you compare it to Belgium. Argentina with Lavezzi, Messi and Aguero will demolish the Dutch defence with ease and Van Gaal is really fooling around. The WC is starting in a couple of months and they still don't have a regular starting 11. If they keep it up like this the WC is going to be a disaster

[Commander Chopper]

Belgium's best players are fellaini,company and hazard.

About asian teams,it seems korea,australia and iran will have a hard time in the world cup(especially iran and australia).The only team that has improved in asia is japan,they have some talented players and perform well in friendly games.I think they can surprise everyone in this world cup.

[Noqanky]

I usually follow these really closely, and this time I'll be even more into it with a pretty free summer, as well as the fact that for the first time since 1998, my home country (Colombia) will be going, and even made it as the head of a group. Don't expect them to go too far due to the tough competition, but I hope they go farther than usual at the least.

As for who'll win, I have no clue, but I truly hope it's not Brazil. It's boring when they win, and I haven't seen their game grow in any way whatsoever. Actually, I would say I'm very unconvinced about the chances of South America to get a World Cup. Argentina always aims high and chokes, Uruguay barely made it, and frequent world cup finalist Paraguay fell so tremendously they were last in the whole region iirc. Brazil is really the only one with a realistic shot, and I wouldn't say they're at their best.

But then again, it's the World Cup. No one really expected Italy to have crowned 2006, particularly during their round robin. I hope we get a lot of surprises.

[cooldud]

I think Colombia are fifth favourites for the title, after Brazil, Spain, Germany and Argentina (in that order). They have some very exciting players indeed! If they can put a decent run, they can make it to the semis, and then it's anybody's game.

And yeah, I can see the Asian teams bar Japan struggle to get out of their group.

[Nami]

Go team germany!

It will be so weird being in australia this time around. None of the german euphorism. The football worldcup is so huge in germany you actually can get days off to watch the game. And if u don't get the day off, yo will get tvs to watch it.
Even at festivals they do public viewing with a special tv just for that. I love it.

But here in oz it probably wont be such a huge thing. Bummer

[Noqanky]

@cooldud:

I think Colombia are fifth favourites for the title, after Brazil, Spain, Germany and Argentina (in that order). They have some very exciting players indeed! If they can put a decent run, they can make it to the semis, and then it's anybody's game.

And yeah, I can see the Asian teams bar Japan struggle to get out of their group.

Problem with Colombia is that in theory they should be good. And their players this time are really quite good, lot of potential. But even when we had the best generation of players, back in either 1990 or 1994, I forget, they always manage to fail miserably.

The theory among us Colombians is that we're meant to suffer, so they get our hopes up then destroy them. The other, more likely theory is that since our soccer players are Colombian young men, upon the prospect of a world cup they go all-out party mode and neglect the game … and with the cup being in Brazil, I don't doubt they'll be received by very beautiful brazilian women and forget what they even went for.

Mark my words, there will be a lot of "unclaimed" pregnancies following this cup.

[Kaiolino]

I hope France gets eliminated immediately for the way they bought themselves out of pot 2.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

Poule I want to see

Belgium
Russia
United States
Netherlands

Would be the best thing ever.

[loneassassin]

I have been messing around with the draw simulator ESPN has and through many automatic simulations I came across the group of death for the US:

Brazil
Germany
United States
Argentina

[cooldud]

@loneassassin:

I have been messing around with the draw simulator ESPN has and through many automatic simulations I came across the group of death for the US:

Brazil
Germany
United States
Argentina

But this one's impossible! Germany, Brazil and Argentina are in the same pot! :blink:

I almost sh*t my pants looking at that group.

[Commander Chopper]

The toughest possible group would be:
Brazil
Chile
Japan
Italy

These are the strongest teams of each pot(though some may disagree on Brazil).

[Noqanky]

Chile and Ecuador are pretty much on equal footing based on the results of the CONMEBOL qualifiers. I would say the biggest threat in the second pot is Nigeria, although frankly the African teams are always huge wild cards to me.

[xan]

Ah damn slightly disappointed. Interesting groups will obviously be Group B, D and G!

[Dryish]

The full draw:

! Group A
! * Brazil

• Croatia
• Mexico
• Cameroon

! Group B
! * Spain

• Netherlands
• Chile
• Australia

! Group C
! * Colombia

• Greece
• Côte d'Ivoire
• [/_dialog.html"] ](http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/final-draw/draw.html?intcmp=newsreader_news_caption#/worldcup/final-draw/library/draw/team=[id) 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
• [/_dialog.html"] ](http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/final-draw/draw.html?intcmp=newsreader_news_caption#/worldcup/final-draw/library/draw/team=[id) Russia
• Korea Republic

Sheesh, that group G. Go Ghana, I'm rooting for you!

[Luffyko]

Oh boy…
Germany
Ghana
USA
Portugal

This also means former German coach Klinsmann vs current German coach Löw lol

[Kaiolino]

Dammit we almost had Germany/Russia/USA.

Not happy with opening match against Spain.

[Smiley]

So portugal was the team that went to the pot B?

[Mrs. Iceburg]

I like it! Things are looking up for Belgium.
Some are pretty obvious, but I'm quite curious to what will happen in Group C. Will be rooting for Ivory Coast!
And G will be interesting as well!

[Dryish]

@Mrs.:

I like it! Some are pretty obvious, but I'm very curious to what will happen in Group C. And G will be interesting as well!

C, F, and H really interest me. They're all groups that don't have an obvious winner and that could go in almost any way, even in favour of some smaller countries with no tradition of international success. Imagine something like Bosnia-Herzegovina winning a group? That would be amazing.

Also, Belgium seems to have a fairly good chance of getting past group stage. Yay for Benelux success o/

[Mrs. Iceburg]

@Toraish:

C, F, and H really interest me. They're all groups that don't have an obvious winner and that could go in almost any way, even in favour of some smaller countries with no tradition of international success. Imagine something like Bosnia-Herzegovina winning a group? That would be amazing.

Also, Belgium seems to have a fairly good chance of getting past group stage. Yay for Benelux success o/

Yeah, they should make for some interesting chances. Japan is pretty good, but it would be really cool if Ivory Coast could win over them.
And for F, that's still Argentina in there :p. So I wouldn't hope too much for those other teams.
But yeah, I'd really like to see some African and Middle Eastern teams get further, instead of the usual batch of Western European and South American countries.

Yep, although with Korea there it won't be effortless.

Oh and also clenches fist there is no such thing as Benelux success (in football). The Dutch are our enemies.

[King Cannon]

Pot D for Death.

3 WC winners there.

[Dryish]

@Mrs.:

Yeah, they should make for some interesting chances. Japan is pretty good, but it would be really cool if Ivory Coast could win over them.
And for F, that's still Argentina in there :p. So I wouldn't hope too much for those other teams.
But yeah, I'd really like to see some African and Middle Eastern teams get further, instead of the usual batch of Western European and South American countries.

Yep, although with Korea there it won't be effortless.

Oh and also clenches fist there is no such thing as Benelux success (in football). The Dutch are our enemies.

Argentina choked really bad last tournament and I'm more than expecting them to repeat it again this time around. Messi is good, no doubt, and they have other high profile players as well that took them far in the Copa, but I'm still not entirely convinced of their ability to play as a team and defeat smaller countries whose individual talent and skill they might well overlook. We'll see.

And yeah, I know about your rivalry. It's pretty much the same as we have with the Swedes in (almost) every sport. But I like you both, and, regardless of the certain existing differences, you're still closer to one another than, say, to France or Germany. So there's that. And I can't just go shouting "Go Netherlands!" without making you angry, so~

[xan]

Goodbye England! Nice seeing you in the group stages

[Smiley]

So France got the easiest group.-_-
Who was the team that went to pot two?

[Dryish]

@Smiley:

Who was the team that went to pot two?

Portugal, apparently. :P

[loneassassin]

Jesus we have three potential groups of death with B, D and G

[Smiley]

@Toraish:

Portugal, apparently. :P

fsfsfsfsfsfssffs fuuuck. :/

[Mrs. Iceburg]

@Toraish:

And yeah, I know about your rivalry. It's pretty much the same as we have with the Swedes in (almost) every sport. But I like you both, and, regardless of the certain existing differences, you're still closer to one another than, say, to France or Germany. So there's that. And I can't just go shouting "Go Netherlands!" without making you angry, so~

Haha yeah, I guess it's a universal thing.
But it's just the orange man. the freaking orange

[Dryish]

The very orange that I have loved since I first saw it at the age of one. Forever and ever my favourite colour.

But I can't help but sympathize with you guys. We're in such similar positions in so many ways. :P

[noob]

I'm betting it all on Uruguay!

[Print Error]

Oh boy, the English press are going to be excruciating about this.

Confession: I enjoy watching the World Cup, but never when England are playing because it all gets too nationalistic and worked-up. In fact, the games without any of the really big teams are the ones I'll tend to find myself watching, perhaps with a kitten trying to chase the ball on the screen like last time.

[cooldud]

Gather around. It's the dud's take on the draw.

Group A: Easy enough for Brazil, I expect them to win all their group games. Any of the others can finish second, although I think it'll be Mexico.

Group B: Wow. Just wow. Whoever wins in Chile vs Netherlands is taking the second spot here. I have a feeling it's gonna be Spain and Chile. Group exit for last year's finalists. I don't think their defence will be able to cope with Alexis and co.

Group C: Colombia and Japan. I'm rooting for Ivory Coast, but Japan have turned on the style in the past few years.

Group D: First, Italy. For second, I'll put England, just because even after all the consternation, the English do consistently manage to get past the group stages of the World Cup. Uruguay have the same problem as the Dutch, if you can keep Cavani and Suarez quiet, you have a good chance of beating them.

Group E: France and Ecuador. Lucky lucky French.

Group F: Argentina and Bosnia. Again, will be rooting for Nigeria.

Group G: Germany and Portugal. Despite all the huffing and puffing in qualifying, Portugal always bring the goods to the main stage. I'm pegging the Yanks to finish bottom in this one.

Group H: Belgium and Russia. Lucky lucky Russkies.

[Commander Chopper]

Overall the groups are very balanced.I don't see real groups of life or groups of deaths some groups just a bit easier(group E) than others(group G).

[Monquito]

Look at Group G xD, poor Ghana.