2014 WORLD CUP CHAMPIONSHIP IN BRAZIL

[EPJr]

The second round will see the teams ranked 7–25 joined by the 5 winners from the first round. These teams were drawn into six groups of four teams, at the World Cup Preliminary Draw at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 30 July 2011. The matches are foreseen to be played from 2 September to 15 November 2011.

Group A
El Salvador
Suriname
Cayman Islands
Dominican Republic

Group B
Trinidad and Tobago
Guyana
Barbados
Bermuda

Group C
Panama
Dominica
Nicaragua
Bahamas

Group D
Canada
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Puerto Rico
Saint Lucia

Group E
Grenada
Guatemala
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Belize

Group F
Haiti
Antigua and Barbuda
Curaçao
U.S. Virgin Islands

The third round will see the top 6 seeds joined by the 6 group winners from the second round. These teams will be drawn into three groups of four teams, at the World Cup Preliminary Draw at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 30 July 2011. The matches are foreseen to be played from 8 June to 16 October 2012. The top two teams from each group will advance to the fourth round.

Group A
United States
Jamaica
Winner of Group E
Winner of Group F

Group B
Mexico
Costa Rica
Winner of Group A
Winner of Group B

Group C
Honduras
Cuba
Winner of Group D
Winner of Group C

Inter-confederation play-off
The fourth-placed team of CONCACAF will play OFC's first-placed team in a home-and-away play-off. The winner of this play-off qualifies for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Finals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_ ... lification_(CONCACAF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

[clenz]

Why the fuck does it take three years to qualify?

[EPJr]

Why the **** does it take three years to qualify?

because players have club obligations too
and if the national sides start pulling players too often
the clubs may stop releasing them on time

[EPJr]

World Cup:
Field of 32 set after Uruguay tie Jordan to seal place in Brazil


Africa (CAF)
Côte d'Ivoire
Ghana
Nigeria
Algeria
Cameroon

Asia (AFC)
Japan
Iran
South Korea
Australia

Europe (UEFA)
Spain
Germany
Belgium
Switzerland
Netherlands
Italy
England
Portugal
Greece
Bosnia-Herz.
Croatia
Russia
France

North America (CONCACAF)
United States
Mexico
Costa Rica
Honduras

South America (CONMEBOL)
Brazil
Argentina
Colombia
Uruguay
Chile
Ecuador

http://www.mlssoccer.com/worldcup/2014/ ... ace-brazil" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[GannonFan]

It does seem like a lot of work just to get to this when you figure that the only teams that have an actual chance to win the World Cup are, and probably in order:

1. Brazil
2.
3.
4.
5. Spain (yeah, real big gap between the hosts and everyone else)
6. Italy
7. Argentina
8. Germany
9. Netherlands

And that's really it. I mean, it's fun to watch happen, but the end result is pretty well known. It's become the NBA playoffs in a way, very predictable.

[89Hen]

http://ultra-zone.net/2014-FIFA-World-C ... tage-Draws

Group D
Belgium
USA
Ecuador
Netherlands

[Grizalltheway]

It does seem like a lot of work just to get to this when you figure that the only teams that have an actual chance to win the World Cup are, and probably in order:

1. Brazil
2.
3.
4.
5. Spain (yeah, real big gap between the hosts and everyone else)
6. Italy
7. Argentina
8. Germany
9. Netherlands

And that's really it. I mean, it's fun to watch happen, but the end result is pretty well known. It's become the NBA playoffs in a way, very predictable.

I really don't think there's that big of a gap between Brazil and the rest. They're a good team but they aren't 2002 good.

[Skjellyfetti]

It does seem like a lot of work just to get to this when you figure that the only teams that have an actual chance to win the World Cup are, and probably in order:

1. Brazil
2.
3.
4.
5. Spain (yeah, real big gap between the hosts and everyone else)
6. Italy
7. Argentina
8. Germany
9. Netherlands

And that's really it. I mean, it's fun to watch happen, but the end result is pretty well known. It's become the NBA playoffs in a way, very predictable.

It's not that predictable at all.

Brazil are the favorites because they're hosting. But, they're not nearly the clear favorites you make it out to be.

Italy is too high on your list and Germany is too low, imo.

If it's as predictable as you claim... I expect your rankings to be similar to outcome. I seriously doubt they will be.



Edit: And, just because I feel like it.... let's look at how predictable the last World Cups have been.

2010

betting favorites pre-World Cup: Spain, Brazil, Argentina, and England
The final four: Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Uruguay.

1 out of 4 right. The favorite won.

2006
betting favorites pre-World Cup: Brazil, England, Germany, Argentina
The final four: Italy, France, Germany, Portugal

1 out of 4 right. The favorite lost in the quaterfinals.

2002
betting favorites pre-World Cup: Argentina, France, Brazil, Italy
The final four: Brazil, Germany, Turkey, South Korea

1 out of 4 right. The favorite didn't even make it out of their group.





I don't get at all how you can say that the World Cup is so predictable.

Looking at the data.... it looks like you're saying this SOLELY because Spain, the favorites, won in 2010.

[EPJr]

FIFA WORLD CUP POTS

Pot 1 (8): Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium

Pot 2 (7): Algeria, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Chile, Ecuador

Pot 3 (8): United States, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Iran

Pot 4 (9): Italy, Netherlands, England, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Russia, Portugal, France

http://www.mlssoccer.com/worldcup/2014/ ... ign=Unpaid" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


The draw for Brazil 2014 will occur on Friday (11:30 am ET), as FIFA sets the eight four-team groups and locks in the schedule for the opening phase of the tournament.

MLSsoccer.com will have complete coverage of the World Cup draw, including live updates of the groups, post-draw analysis, and reactions from USMNT players such as Omar Gonzalez and Graham Zusi.

[UNHWildCats]

Got this on first try

I did the @guardian_sport interactive 2014 World Cup Draw and USA went on to win. Now do yours at http://gu.com/p/3kp92?seed=zADUuq" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …


tried 100 more times and USA didnt make semi's once. lol

[EPJr]

World Cup 2014:
MLSsoccer.com's World Cup Draw preview


HOW THE DRAW WORKS

NOTE: Teams from the same region cannot be drawn into the same group except for a maximum of two European teams in any single group.

STEP 1: One European team from Pot 4 will be placed into Pot 2 to ensure 8 teams in each pot

STEP 2: The eight seeds from Pot 1 are assigned groups from Group A through Group H

STEP 3: A ball will be drawn from a special Pot X, featuring the four seeded South American teams. The lone European team in Pot 2 (STEP 1) will be assigned to that South American team's group in order to avoid the possiblity of having three European teams in any one group.

STEP 4: The rest of the Pot 2 teams are randomly drawn into the other seven groups (Note: Chile and Ecuador cannot be drawn into teams with other South American teams).

STEP 5: Pot 3 teams are randomly drawn into the eight groups.

STEP 6: Pot 4 teams are randomly drawn into the eight groups.
•READ: FIFA's official World Cup draw procedures (http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournam ... eutral.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

Eight former players representing the eight former World Cup champions -- Cafu (Brazil), Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), Mario Kempes (Argentina), ex-MLS player Lothar Matthaus (Germany), Alcides Ghiggia (Uruguay), Fernando Hierro (Spain), Zinedine Zidane (France) and Sir Geoff Hurst (England) will help FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke conduct the draw.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/worldcup/2014/ ... aw-preview" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[bluehenbillk]

Brazil hasn't lost a home match I read in my lifetime. So all of this will be to see who will finish second right?

[GannonFan]

Brazil hasn't lost a home match I read in my lifetime. So all of this will be to see who will finish second right?

Huh? Brazil lost to Uruguay on home soil in 2002 (and lost to Argentina in 1998 at Maracana Stadium), and while that was a friendly, Brazil lost a "competitive match" to Peru in 1975. How old are you?

Brazil is a big favorite, no doubt, but they are beatable.

[bluehenbillk]

Brazil hasn't lost a home match I read in my lifetime. So all of this will be to see who will finish second right?

Huh? Brazil lost to Uruguay on home soil in 2002 (and lost to Argentina in 1998 at Maracana Stadium), and while that was a friendly, Brazil lost a "competitive match" to Peru in 1975. How old are you?

Brazil is a big favorite, no doubt, but they are beatable.

OK, I was off by 6 years then. My attention span for soccer is limited - you of all people know that.

[GannonFan]

Huh? Brazil lost to Uruguay on home soil in 2002 (and lost to Argentina in 1998 at Maracana Stadium), and while that was a friendly, Brazil lost a "competitive match" to Peru in 1975. How old are you?

Brazil is a big favorite, no doubt, but they are beatable.

OK, I was off by 6 years then. My attention span for soccer is limited - you of all people know that.

I'm a stickler for accuracy, you know that.

They're going to draw the balls out soon - are you watching?

[GannonFan]

Yikes, so far there's a group with Italy and Uraguay and there's another group with Spain and Chile. Want to stay away from those groups.

[GannonFan]

Italy was the European side moved from Pot 4 to Pot 2. Another European side from Pot 4 will be in with them and Uruguay.

[GannonFan]

Mexico gets drawn into Brazil's group (Cameroon in there too).

[GannonFan]

Austrailia gets in the Spain/Chile group. The US probably wants to avoid Group D - Italy and Uruguay.

[GannonFan]

And we miss Group D - Costa Rico gets to be annihilated in that group.

[GannonFan]

Well, we're with Germany and Ghana. We've lost to both sides in previous World Cups so we get another crack at both of them. Could be a real tough group depending on the last European side.

[GannonFan]

And of course the whole Klinsman going up against his native country storyline for the next 6 months.

[GannonFan]

Spain and Netherlands are in the same group!

[GannonFan]

Brazil versus Croatia is the opening game next year. Somewhat good group there - Brazil, Mexico, Croatia, and then a lesser Cameroon team.

[GannonFan]

England gets screwed - possible Group of Death in group D - Italy, Uruguay, England, and Costa Rico.