Any thoughts on who will be crowned kings of the füÃbol world come July? Anyone want to subject their insights to the scrutiny of the not606 hive-mind? I'll go first: 1# Neither England nor the USA will emerge from group play. The USA won't get out because a) its players aren't nearly good enough and b) it's in the group of death. England's players will fail to gel as a team and, once again, not meet the unrealistically high expectations of fans; Rooney and Roy will be roasted by the hero/villian obsessed UK press. 2# Tiny Belgium will outperform bigger European powerhouses like Russia, Italy, France and The Netherlands. 3# Tournament surprises will be Mexico, Belgium and Columbia. The final four: Germany, Brazil, Spain and Argentina - with Spain beating Brazil for the crown. Click the picture below to see my complete predictions: (You can fill out your own bracketed predictions here: http://www.worldcupplayoffsbracket.com/2014/index.php)
My hunch is Spain will win, well I would say that wouldn't I? But I genuinely think they will. I think England will get out of the group stage but not get any further than the first knock out round. Can't disagree with your final four and also agree that Belgium will do very well being plucky losers ultimately. Dark horses though.
I have a tenner on Belgium at 15/1 but realistically I think one of the South American teams to win it. Preferably Argentina because I'd love to see Messi win a World Cup. I also fancy Japan to surprise a few.
I've said for months that I fancy Argentina for this one. Uruguay are my dark horses, if Suarez is fit. I don't see any of the European teams winning this one, although Spain's game is better suited to the conditions than most of their European rivals. We've organised a competition within the family, each of us (me, Mrs Captain, two sons) randomly drawing one team from each group and scoring points for wins (3pts), draws (1pt), goals (1pt per goal) and non-seed beating seeds (2pts, but only if they win within 90 minutes). I've got Brazil, which has slightly shifted my intention of supporting Argentina if England go out. I've got England and Germany as well, by the way. I was hoping for Greece because of Mitroglou and Karagounis, but sadly Mrs Captain drew them and left me with Japan in group C. For what it's worth, going back to DR's original post. I think the expectation level in England is more realistic this time around. No one seems to be expecting wonders from Roy and his team. If we do go out in the group stage, there may well be a bit of a backlash, but I think a lot of people are expecting an early exit. I think we've got a chance of getting through. I'm not expecting wonders, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility that something will click and we'll have a decent tournament. What 'a decent tournament' consists of and how far we could go depends entirely on who we end up facing in knock-out rounds, of course.
Any team with Fred and The Hulk is going to win. The yellow shirt will go nicely with his green skin. I do actually think Brazil will win. England will scrape through group stages but ultimately go no further. Roy will be castigated for the poor performances but you can't polish a turd!
Only looking at the group stages. Of the smaller teams the one that has impressed me has been Chile, They beat England away, only lost away 1-0 to Germany, and drew away in Spain and Columbia, and only lost a close game away to Brazil 2-1. They are in a tough group with Spain and Netherlands, but if they can get a good start against Australia, they should go through. They work well as a team, with no real stars. I expect Germany and Belgium to be the best of Europeans. Germany take on Portugal in their first game, it will be a crucial game in a tough group. Belgium should get one of the top two places in their group. And Brazil and Argentina to be the best of the South Americans, by rights neither team should fail to get through the stage groups. Prediction if he does play at some stage Luis Suarez during the WC will cheat, and his little hand will go up in the air signaling he is really hurt.
