2014 World Cup beginnig thoughts and group predicitons

With the World Cup in Brazil coming up, there’s plenty to talk about in regards to the tournament and who is and who is not going. On the heart of many people is how for the U.S Mens National Team will go, or if they can get out of their “Group of Death” which include two teams in the top ten, Germany and Portugal, and Ghana the country who eliminated them from the last two world cups. Other than U.S related stories we must talk about Brazil, the host country is one of the favorites with incredible talent and home field advantage. Up and coming Belgium, who is going through a “Golden Year” with who they will be bringing to the World Cup, defending champion Spain, as they go for the first repeat championship since 1962. We also have players who have been injured or cut from the program, such as Columbian Striker Radamel Falcao, the star striker will be missing the World Cup due to a serious Knee Injury, Falcao scored 5 goals in World Cup Qualifying.  French winger Frank Ribery who will miss due to a back injury, many consider Ribery the best in the world at his position. Belgiun Striker Christian Benteke will miss due to a Ruptured Achilles; last year for his Club Aston Villa he scored 10 goals in 26 appearances for his club Aston Villa, along with many other injuries. However despite losing them, the show will go on, here are my predictions on how the tournament will unfold.

Group A:

Brazil

Croatia

Mexico

Cameroon

Despite some nice talent for Cameroon with Former Chelsea striker Samuel Eto, and Barcelona player Alex Song, they seem more concerned about what the bonus will be, so much so the players would not board the plan until it was decided. Along with this is home favorites Brazil, Croatia led by Midfielder Luka Modric, and Mexico who despite being historically successful barley qualified for the tournament. I see Brazil advancing top of the group, with the home team holding strong and Croatia in second, beating Mexico for the third spot.  If Mexico had problems holding the Midfielders from Honduras and Costa Rica, they will have a bigger problem with Luka Modric and Mario Mandzukic.

Winner: Brazil

Runner Up: Croatia

                Group B:

                Spain

                Netherlands

                Chile

                Australia

This group features the winner and the runner up from the 2010 world cup, Spain and the Netherlands, unfortunately the Netherlands will have the same team from the 2012 European Championships with the same exact problems, that team failed to advance out of the group. Spain is the defending World Cup and European Championships, with the addition of Diego Costa for more scoring they will be a dangerous team. With the Netherlands falling off I have Chile advancing out of the group, Alexis Sanchez or Barcelona is a wonderful striker, and fans will get to see one of the reasons Juventus is an Italian powerhouse when Midfielder Arturo Vidal takes the field. They will get Chile through the group.

Winner: Spain

Runner Up: Chile

               
                Group C:

                Columbia

                Ivory Coast

                Greece

                Japan

Ivory Coast is the African Powerhouse. Manchester City Midfielder Yaya Toure had a fantastic season while the team won the English Premier League, Dider Drogba and Wilfred Bony have become some of the best strikers in the world and have a cast of stars around them such as Roma striker Gervinho and Yayas brother Kolo. Without Falcao I see this world cup group being very tough for Columbia, and sharing the group with Japan, a team with creative midfielders Shinji Kagawa and Keisuke Honda, along with players from the very strong J. League this is a team to be reckoned with.

Winner: Ivory Coast

Runner-Up: Japan

              
                Group D:

                Uruguay

                Costa Rica

                England

                Italy

Uruguay has Luis Suarez, he has bitten people several times in a game, and swatted a ball out of the year during the last World Cup, but he is one of the best strikers in the world. They also have Deigo Forlan and Edison Cavani, two very powerful strikers. Then we have England and Italy two European powerhouses that will compete for this group. Whoever wins between England and Italy will be the runner up seeing that Uruguay just have to many options up front.  I think England all around is just a better team, while they are very talented upfront, on defense it will be tough for Italy to stop Daniel Sturridge, Wayne Rooney, and Danny Welbeck. Despite their best efforts, Costa Rica will struggle.

Winner Uruguay

Runner Up: England

               
                Group E:

                Switzerland

                Ecuador

                France

                Honduras

Switzerland is the number 6 team in the world, and they have talented midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri from Bayern Munich, and another group of players that led them to breeze through there World Cup Qualifying group. However they are also in the group with France and Ecuador, two teams with a lot of talent. Despite France losing Ribery, they still have top strikers Karim Benzema and Oliver Giroud, along with talented young midfielder Paul Pogba. Ecuador’s captain Antonio Valencia plays for English Powerhouse Manchester United, and they have talented players playing in Europe and South America. That being said, the Swiss along with Honduras will have a tough time in this group, seeing that France will match up better against Ecuador. I see that as the championship game in this group.

Winner: France

Runner Up: Ecuador

               
                Group F:

                Argentina

                Bosnia and Herzegovina

                Iran

                Nigeria

 Iran and Nigeria are going to struggle mightily, Argentina have some guy name Lionel Messi. I don’t think I need to say anything else. However I will say that Messi will not have to do it by himself, Sergio Aguero will be another striker up front who will shine, Angel Di Maria is one of the best passers in the world, and he will be passing the ball to Messi and Aguero. Also Manchester City Stalwarts Pablo Zabaleta and Martin Demichelis they will be a team that will be very dangerous in Brazil. Bosnia will be the runner up with Edin Dzecko and Vedad Ibisevic having an easy time scoring against Iran and Nigeria.

Winner: Argentina

Runner-Up: Bosnia and Herzegovina

               
                Group G:

                Germany

                Portugal

                U.S.

                Ghana

The U.S obviously got the short end of the straw qualifying for this group. Germany is a powerhouse and Portugal has some guy and Cristiano Ronaldo. Germany is going to win this group, the winner of the U.S Portugal match will get the runner-up.  Now as bullish as I have been about the U.S tying Portugal when I sit down and think with my head all I see is Ronaldo going at there and having his way with our makeshift backline.

Winner: Germany

As much as it pains me to say it

Runner-Up: Portugal

            
                Group H:

                Belgium

                Algeria

                Russia

                South Korea

Belgium is going to be a tough team to beat, the have strong striker Romelu Lukaku, the very crafy Eden Hazard, and very strong defender Vincent Kompany, and that is just scraping the surface. Russia and South Korea are known to play very well, they are even on paper and it will be very tight for this position. In the end South Korea will score just a bit more the Russia.

Winner: Belgium

Runner-Up: South Korea