Brazil 2014 Fifa World Cup Thread

[War]

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.

Ha ye if Colombia's center back pair is the 35+ duo of Yepes/Perera that could a be a prob despite the brilliant attacking potential they have. Surely coach Pekerman has to start AC Milan's Cristian Zapata in the back - he has looked fairly good the time's i've seen him play.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

The group England really wanted was Group E, or the Group of Life as I'm calling it! Our draw is very tough but it could've been worse. I'm not expecting us to get out of that group though.

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

Yep - this is a very tough group. Italy will destroy us again like they did in the Euros and if Chile taught us a football lesson, Uruguay will take us apart.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Tough group for England but expectations are low leading into this world cup so I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't advance from the group stages.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

Ha ye if Colombia's center back pair is the 35+ duo of Yepes/Perera that could a be a prob despite the brilliant attacking potential they have. Surely coach Pekerman has to start AC Milan's Cristian Zapata in the back - he has looked fairly good the time's i've seen him play.

he was ok last year but this season he's been a shambles. still better than those two though.


england should be ok against uruguay but they tend to bring out the best in the best players... and uruguay have cavani and suarez.

 

[barmyarmy]

Don't know what England are moaning about. Far tougher groups for Germany and Spain. I think we can all agree that France lucked out though...

 

[MasterBlaster76]

I'm worried because its been a long time since we saw a traditional 'dogs of war' performance from England against one of the top teams. Seems all we do when we meet them when it really matters these days is roll over.

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Don't know what England are moaning about. Far tougher groups for Germany and Spain. I think we can all agree that France lucked out though...

Spain and Germany can handle such groups though, that's the difference. France are currently the luckiest team in world football!

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

3 former winners in one group must be a turn up for the books actually. though boringly I imagine it will have happened before, especially when there were less teams in the main draw.

 

[War]

Don't know what England are moaning about. Far tougher groups for Germany and Spain. I think we can all agree that France lucked out though...

England were horribly close to getting France's group though. Watching the draw live, England were placed in Italy's group, just before France got that group.

 

[thedon5]

he was ok last year but this season he's been a shambles. still better than those two though.

Must have improved a lot then?

He was one of the players who almost single-handedly got Villareal relegated...

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As was discussed here earlier, if the aim was for England to win the World Cup, this is the perfect group for that.

 

[War]

World Cup 2014: England and Italy to lobby FIFA for drinks breaks during Manaus showdown | Football News | Sky Sports

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Can you imagine playing against Spain in Manaus?

You'd be sweatin' like a gooden chasing after the ball in that heat.

 

[War]

^^

Ha ye. I'm now realizing Manaus has a crucial group game between USA & Portugal.

Hmm, to me Portugal didn't look great in qualifying & it took Ronaldo's individual brilliance to get them past Sweden.

USA IMO are a better rounded team than Sweden & its not impossible for them to repeat their 2002 W-Cup win versus Portugal. If anything can help slow Ronaldo down to USA's benefit could be the Manaus heat. Big game that.

 

[War]

England kickoff time moved by FIFA - ESPN FC

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Looks like I wont be able to watch England's first game due to work

 

[MasterBlaster76]

England kickoff time moved by FIFA - ESPN FC

So England and Italy will both bake, but Italians are more used to it than Englishmen are...