Brazil 2014 Fifa World Cup Thread

[War]

Duarte: Assessing the state of the Brazilian national team in 2013 by Fernando Duarte - ESPN FC

The potential re-emergence of Robinho could be good sign especially with Costa choosing to play for Spain & Fred although solid, not that "world-class # 9" that they want.

Also indeed United Rafael not being given a chance has been a bit surprising.

 

[War]

BBC News - World Cup seeding: How to play the game

 

[War]

Chelsea youngster Kenneth Omeruo is one to watch when he realises dream of playing for Nigeria at the World Cup - Telegraph

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/world-cup-will-be-won-in-the-air-as-well-as-on-the-pitch-8975196.html - Glenn Moore on how new champions may have to fly 12,000 miles

Well damn..

 

[War]

Johnson: Explaining the 2014 World Cup finals draw by Dale Johnson - ESPN FC

----------

Miguel Delaney: Analysing Groups of Death - ESPN FC

Does a Group of Death matter?

Year Group Teams How the qualifiers did
1958 England, Brazil, USSR, Austria - Brazil (winners), USSR (quarterfinals)
1962 Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Mexico, Spain - Brazil (winners), Czechoslovakia (finalists)
1966 England, Uruguay, France, Mexico - England (winners), Uruguay (quarterfinals)
1966 Portugal, Hungary, Brazil, Bulgaria - Portugal (semi-finals), Hungary (quarterfinals)
1970 Brazil, England, Romania, Czechoslovakia - Brazil (winners), England (quarterfinals)
1978 Argentina, Italy, France, Hungary - Argentina (winners), Italy (last eight)
1986 Denmark, West Germany, Uruguay, Scotland - West Germany (finalists), Denmark/Uruguay (last 16)
1990 Argentina, Romania, Cameroon, USSR - Argentina (finalists), Cameroon (quarterfinals), Romania (last 16)
1994 Italy, Ireland, Mexico, Norway - Italy (finalists), Mexico/Ireland (last 16)
1994 Brazil, Sweden, Cameroon, Russia - Brazil (winners), Sweden (semifinals)
1998 Nigeria, Paraguay, Spain, Bulgaria - Nigeria/Paraguay (last 16)
2002 England, Sweden, Argentina, Nigeria - England (quarterfinals), Sweden (last 16)
2002 Germany, Ireland, Cameroon, Saudi Arabia - Germany (finalists), Ireland (last 16)
2006 Italy, Ghana, Czech Republic, USA - Italy (winners), Ghana (last 16)
2010 Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast, North Korea - Brazil (quarterfinals), Portugal (last 16)

 

[thedon5]

Groups of death make teams stronger. They have to battle from the outset and don't have to pick up performance as much as other teams need to. In such a big tournament, rhythm is very important.

In fact the same could be said of club competitions like the UCL too, it's just that in recent years Barca and Bayern have been streets ahead of everyone else, and in any case were never in as easy groups as the English teams seem to get. The reason I bring this up is that this time around there is no Barca or Bayern of international teams. So getting a group of death could really be a blessing in disguise for a team if they can get out of the group.

 

[War]

World Cup 2014: When will the games kick off? - World Cup 2014 - Football - The Independent

*Kick-off times BST

GROUP A

Matches

June 12 Sao Paulo, 2100: Brazil v A2

June 13 Natal, 1700: A3 v A4

June 17 Fortaleza, 2000: Brazil v A3

June 18 Manaus, 2000: A4 v A2

June 23 Brasilia, 2100: A4 v Brazil

June 23 Recife, 2100: A2 v A3



GROUP B

June 13 Salvador, 2000: B1 v B2

June 13 Cuiaba, 2300: B3 v B4

June 18 Rio de Janeiro, 2300: B1 v B3

June 18 Porto Alegre, 1700: B4 v B2

June 23 Curitiba, 1700: B4 v B1

June 23 Sao Paulo, 1700: B2 v B3



GROUP C

June 14 Belo Horizonte, 1700: C1 v C2

June 14 Recife, 2300: C3 v C4

June 19 Brasilia, 1700: C1 v C3

June 19 Natal, 2300: C4 v C2

June 24 Cuiaba, 2100: C4 v C1

June 24 Fortaleza, 2100: C2 v C3



GROUP D

June 14 Fortaleza, 2000: D1 v D2

June 15 Manaus, 0200: D3 v D4

June 19 Sao Paulo, 2000: D1 v D3

June 20 Recife, 1700: D4 v D2

June 24 Natal, 1700: D4 v D1

June 24 Belo Horizonte, 1700: D2 v D3



GROUP E

June 15 Brasilia, 1700: E1 v E2

June 15 Porto Alegre, 2000: E3 v E4

June 20 Salvador, 2000: E1 v E3

June 20 Curitiba, 2300: E4 v E2

June 25 Manaus, 2100: E4 v E1

June 25 Rio de Janeiro, 2100: E2 v E3



GROUP F

June 15 Rio de Janeiro, 2300: F1 v F2

June 16 Curitiba, 2000: F3 v F4

June 21 Belo Horizonte, 1700: F1 v F3

June 21 Cuiaba, 2300: F4 v F2

June 25 Porto Alegre, 1700: F4 v F1

June 25 Salvador, 1700: F2 v F3



GROUP G

June 16 Salvador, 1700: G1 v G2

June 16 Natal, 2300: G3 v G4

June 21 Fortaleza, 2000: G1 v G3

June 22 Manaus, 2000: G4 v G2

June 26 Recife, 1700: G4 v G1

June 26 Brasilia, 1700: G2 v G3



GROUP H

June 17 Belo Horizonte, 1700: H1 v H2

June 17 Cuiaba, 2300: H3 v H4

June 22 Rio de Janeiro, 2300: H1 v H3

June 22 Porto Alegre, 1700: H4 v H2

June 26 Sao Paulo, 2100: H4 v H1

June 26 Curitiba, 2100: H2 v H3



LAST 16

Match 49 - June 28 Belo Horizonte, 1700: Winner A v Runner-up B

Match 50 - June 28 Rio de Janeiro, 2100: Winner C v Runner-up D

Match 51 - June 29 Fortaleza, 1700: Winner B v Runner-up A

Match 52 - June 29 Recife, 2100: Winner D v Runner-up C

Match 53 - June 30 Brasilia, 1700: Winner E v Runner-up F

Match 54 - June 30 Porto Alegre, 2100: Winner G v Runner-up H

Match 55 - July 1 Sao Paulo, 1700: Winner F v Runner-up E

Match 56 - July 1 Salvador, 2100: Winner H v Runner-up G



QUARTER-FINALS

Match 57 - July 4 Fortaleza, 2100: Winner Match 49 v Winner Match 50

Match 58 - July 4 Rio de Janeiro, 1700: Winner Match 53 v Winner Match 54

Match 59 - July 5 Salvador, 2100: Winner Match 51 v Winner Match 52

Match 60 - July 5 Brasilia, 1700: Winner Match 55 v Winner Match 56



SEMI-FINALS

July 8 Belo Horizonte, 2100: Winner Match 57 v Winner Match 58

July 9 Sao Paulo, 2100: Winner Match 59 v Winner Match 60



THIRD-PLACE PLAY-OFF

July 12 Brasilia, 2100



FINAL

July 13 Rio de Janeiro, 2000

 

[Jine]

Its gonna be great at brazil. I wanna see brazil losing in their home.

 

[SambarVadai]

Well...first mach will go on track when Arena Corinthians gets built before the first day of the WC.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

I present to you the ''Brazuca!''

 

[War]

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli calls for World Cup timeouts at Brazil - ESPN FC

 

[Bevab]

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli calls for World Cup timeouts at Brazil - ESPN FC

Seems reasonable enough to be fair.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

the draw is happening now. could update this thread live but no, we don't do that sort of thing here.

update: ok, we'll do it a bit

Group A: Brazil, Cameroon, Mexico, Croatia

Group B: Spain, Chile, Australia, Netherlands

Group C: Colombia, Cote D'Ivoire, Japan, Greece

Group D: Uruguay, Italy, Costa Rica, England

Group E: Switzerland, Ecuador, Honduras, France

Group F: Argentina, Nigeria, Iran, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Group G: Germany, Ghana, USA, Portugal

Group H: Belgium, Algeria, South Korea, Russia


England have got a bit of stinker afterall, costa rica are a pretty good third pot team to get but Italy are arguably the worst team in pot 2 to get, the pot where you should be getting an african team, most of which suck, or rubbish south american team. Brazil and Argentina have a stroll into the next round. France also must be delighted with how it's turned out for them given they were close to not even going.

 

[War]

Well England's group could have been worse. Uruguay are very weak defensively & struggled in the CONMEBOL qualifiers - so i'm not that scared of Uruguay as a S American team despite Suarez - compared to getting Chile, Colombia or Argentina. But it seems like getting out of that group could mean meeting brazil in the quarter-finals according to the ESPN Commentary.

It makes this friendly in March vs Denmark look kind of dumb now. Would prefer ENG to play another S American team, considering that group.



Spain have solid group.

World cup darkhorses, Belgium, Colombia & France have got fairly easy group i'd say.

Germany potentially have the group of death i think.

Argentina, what a beauty of a group they have got.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

yeah, it looks bad but colombia, argentina and brazil were also possible opponents and would have been a lot worse.

Germany v Portugal is the match to watch of the group stages I think, given ronaldo will almost certainly fire. it's a tough group but portugal and germany are far enough ahead of the others to make it straight forward,

colombia's group is interesting, colombia are not shoe ins for any match because they're defensively meh, and the other three teams will all fancy going through with them. I'd say it's the toughest group to call.

 

[Lee1981]

Well that's us out in the group stage then.