[Closed] Brazil 2014. The World Cup thread

Its time to start the discussions on Brazil '14. So many questions:

Does anyone think England will progress out of the groups?

Will the home team cruise to victory?

Will Shrek manage his first goal in a tournament since 1927?

Will Woy pick youth over experience?

Will Suarez recover from surgery to face England?

So many questions, but who has the answers??

Erm, No?

IF england get past the group and somehow find themselves in the Quarters....

would they be more likely to play on the Friday or the Saturday - this is a potential clash with a riding weekend

oh and Rooney to finally score, but not a goal of great importance in the overall scheme of things.

Seriously, it will be the usual "we can win this" bluff and bluster. Lucky if england get to the 1/4 finals, but its a tough group. Italy, no chance, after that a couple of 0-0 draws and home for an extended summer holiday.

i am no expert, and I am welsh, not english , so I dont give a fig. 😀

[i]Seriously, it will be the usual "we can win this" bluff and bluster.[/i]

Actually for probably the first time ever, no seems to think we stand the slightest chance of winning it....which is almost certainly true! 🙁

I could be quite open this year: Brazil and Spain aren't at their best and the likes of Belgium, Uruguay, Argentina etc could steal in. I'd really like someone other than Spain and Brazil to win it this year.

England? If all our attacking players play well, teams are going to struggle with our pace so we could do OK. It's the defence that is worrying, and probably the reason why we won't win it.

My predictions for how each group will pan out

[b]Group A[/b]
Brazil
Croatia
Mexico
Cameroon

[b]Group B[/b]
Netherlands
Spain
Chile
Australia

[b]Group C[/b]
Colombia
Côte d'Ivoire
Greece
Japan

[b]Group D[/b]
Italy
England
Uruguay
Costa Rica

[b]Group E[/b]
France
Ecuador
Switzerland
Honduras

[b]Group F[/b]
Argentina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Iran
Nigeria

[b]Group G[/b]
Germany
Portugal
Ghana
USA

[b]Group H[/b]
Belgium
Russia
Korea Republic
Algeria

Which I believe would mean a Colombia v England game:)

ok, im with you so far.

now to get carried away, we beat colombia and become quarterfinalist 2? so the 9pm slot on the friday.

anyone care to recommend a pub in Mach to watch the match?

Suarez will start, but be off form.

I still remember Italia 90 when we beat Cameroon to get to the Semi's. The streets of Guildford were like something out of South America that night....car horns, flags, high fives, cheering! Was great! 😀

If against the odds we could do well, the country would UNITE!

Yyyyyes World Cup can't wait. What will be in the montage at the end of the tournement? Zidane SMASHING that dude in the chest can never be topped 🙂 but the bitey racist my surpass himself if he plays

England to the semis, Germany to win!

soobalias - Member

ok, im with you so far.

now to get carried away, we beat colombia and become quarterfinalist 2? so the 9pm slot on the friday.

I think we would have Brazil or Holland if that came true! 😕

Germany to win the World Cup against Brasil. 😆

it will be holland.

i bought an orange t-shirt on cup final day when i had relatives down from Hull.
Will pack it for Wales - the locals might be more friendly 🙂

soobalias - Member
Wales / locals / friendly

Not in the way you might expect 😉

France to win it. You heard it here first.

England out first round. 😆

I'm going to miss the second half of it 🙁

I shall be supporting ze Germans. Then Honduras, Ecuador and Switzerland.

...and anybody else playing France.

I shall be in Italy for some of it so...

forza Azzurri!

if England get out of their group it will be by default having bored everybody else to death

...and anybody else playing France.

[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25375166 ]Guess you won't be watching the BBC coverage?[/url]

It's kind of a relief to not be located in the location of a major tournament for a change.
I'm guessing evening matches will be finishing quite late at night UK/EU time?
Hope lights are charged ready for night rides.

Good luck to all my English chums. If you win I will pop down to Berwick for the street party.

Meanwhile, on a lighter note...

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[img] http://i.imgur.com/kq10KtY.jpg [/img][img] http://i.imgur.com/BrkcBuq.jpg [/img][img] http://i.imgur.com/YDvILko.jpg [/img][img] http://i.imgur.com/XOE575Y.jp g" target="_blank">http://i.imgur.com/kq10KtY.jpg [/img][img] http://i.imgur.com/BrkcBuq.jpg [/img][img] http://i.imgur.com/YDvILko.jpg [/img][img] http://i.imgur.com/XOE575Y.jp g"/> [/img]

...and to back up my France shout, here is Giroud last night against Norway.

I am looking forward to it, I won't make a prediction as it won't have a basis in the eventual outcome – I am simply looking forward to sitting back and enjoying a feast of football.

And endlessly repeating to my wife 'I know this isn't England playing, I know I support England, but I enjoy watching football'.

I'm looking forward to all the bitching about 'the Wendyball' on here.

Gonna be awesome.

England will get knocked out in the group stage. I will laugh heartily.

I'm talking my oldest to see the friendly tonight.

I suspect that it's going to be a bit of a case of 'who's that?'!

Sweepstake in the the office...
I've got.. Croatia 🙁

the 1966 final is on 'Live' today...

Argentina are my bet to win it.

If England are adventurous then we should get out of the group and to perhaps a quarter final. I fully expect to watch a lot of long ball bollocks in the last 20 minutes of games and plenty of utterly pointless sideways passes as our usual attempts to ape the creative skills of the continentals go tits up again. 🙂

I do wonder if the usual media frenzy over england in the world cup will push the Scots into voting Yes.

[i]and plenty of utterly pointless sideways passes as our usual attempts to ape the creative skills of the continentals[/i]

lol...yes sadly they are told possession is 99% of the game and as a result keep playing the easy pass, rather than risk anything like a forward pass. Cashly is a great defender but watching him belt up the pitch come face to face with a defender and then pass it backwards is sooo painful! I'm hopeful Baines continues to take on the defender and improves our attacking options.

I think it was Curry's offering some deal which includes EITHER £10 cashback per England goal or £5 cashback per Brazil goal. Hmm.

Jamie, after experiencing WC in SA, I have some sympathy with those murals.

Still and somewhat hypocritically, I will still be watching! I hope Woy just says **** it, picks youth and goes for it in a L'pool kind of way. We know we can' today skilful footie so why bother, let's go for typical English footie with some youthful verve. If nothing else it will be better than waiting for the usual set piece miracle.

Argentina-Belgium final would be my bet.

England can't do any worse than usual and the team doesn't look bad at all. Lambert to score more than Rooney, Welbeck ti do a dance and Lamps to point to the sky, for a relative who must have died sometime in 1983.

Love the World Cup and cannat wait!

We'll be absolutely awful! As always! We'll go at Italy like a bunch of headless chickens, they'll soak it up (not difficult when you can actually defend) then take us apart on the counter. As yossarian said, the second half will be England reverting to type, and hoofing woefully optimistic long balls up front, and then realising they forgot to bring Andy Carrol.

We're not getting out of the group. Simple as that. If you think otherwise, you're delusional. I might have an outside bet on us going out having failed to score

Having said that, once that pathetic sideshow is out of the way, there should be some quality football. I reckon Spain or Argentina to win it, Belgium as the dark horses

I will be in the Alps for nearly 3 weeks of it. So hopefully I will miss most of the [s]action[/s] hype. It is a shame as I really used to loved the world cup.

Well Roony has just departed after 64mins. Totally anonymous......doesn't bode well!

As for the team performance. Not bad, a reasonable effort so far.

Listening to the match, and it seems the fans are entertaining themselves by throwing paper aeroplanes.

The only plus side I can ascertain, is that the ****ing England band are not there.

thought wayne did ok for a first match back, his wandering is less of a problem when we dont just play rooney+1 up front.

they seemed a little jittery, but they have all said they havent trained for that game but been pretty full on all week

best bit is Roy handling the media, hes fantastic, always positive and wont be drawn into saying something the tabloids can twist too much.
asked about rooney after last nights match he simply said he was happy and he has a hat full of strikers (which isnt too far from the truth) and that he wont be making any decisions for another two weeks. I suspect he handles the players a little differently. good.

Sterling got a little run out and looked good. Roys selection worries so far are too many choices - apart from maybe Johnson, who i thought was a liability at times.

er, band was there.

Listening to the match, and it seems the fans are entertaining themselves by throwing paper aeroplanes.

Seems I was right. Biggest cheer of the match:

er, band was there.

5Live must have some sort of great escape theme tune filter, as never came through on the radio coverage.

[img] [/img]

England not to escape their group. South American team to win...just not sure which. Would like to see some surprises like New Zealand last time.

I read that Paul Scholes has said that England need to play like Liverpool have done this last season and if they do, he reckons they'll do well. Problem with that is Woy doesn't seem to understand words like free flowing, attacking, movement, goals, and win.

Hey ho.

I do like a world cup.
England will do well to get out of their group imo.
I don't understand why Rooney commands starting lineup selection ,but he'll probably start the first two games and then the "controversy" will be him being dropped...

Here you go Jamie, [url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/england/10867067/World-Cup-2014-Englands-Three-Lions-supporters-band-likely-to-miss-out-on-as-organisers-refuse-to-let-them-play.html ]Something to celebrate[/url].

I hate those guys.

Here you go Jamie, Something to celebrate.

Say what you like about FIFA, and I would but don't fancy being sued, they do do somethings correctly.

[i]I do like a world cup.
England will do well to get out of their group imo.
I don't understand why Rooney commands starting lineup selection ,but he'll probably start the first two games and then the "controversy" will be him being dropped...[/i]

Can't remember who was manager when Shearer was on his last legs, but always felt he was in the team for his past performances rather than his current form. (then)

He covered about 1 mile in 90mins and lost the vital yard of speed to give him the chances he used to take with ease. Used to really wind me up, so hoping Woy will have the guts I believe he has, to make the right decisions.

My 2p,

England will make it to the next round.

Think Rooney will play, and quite well too. Barkely and Lallana as cover/sharing time with him, all good players but seem to occupy the same space too much to play together - it'll be one of three on the pitch at a time.
Starting front 6 - SG, Henderson (Wilshere on if chasing), Milner, Sterling, Rooney, Sturridge. Hodgson likes one worker wide mid and one really quick attacking wing like Townsend or Walcott -only Sterling fits now. Think he'll hold him back a little in the friendlies so Italy don't get too much idea, but he'll trust him in Manaus as a bit of a surprise.

Italy are nothing special at the 'mo, and Uraguay's best player will be missing or lacking match fitness (although he'll come good in the next round onwards). Personally, can see a few draws and qualification down to how many scored against Costa Rica.
And they've got the Costa Rica game last, who could be out by then anyway, so they'll know what's needed.
If that happens, the're up against a group C team, Columbia, Greece, IC, Japan, - nothing too special there. So they've every chance of winning that too.
So Quarters it is, then anything can happen, but expect to play against top quality there.

My dark horse is Chile, I reckon they'l send one of Spain or Holland home in group B , but really need to top the group to avoid Brazil next round. Possible with a draw and goal difference, Ozzie keeper to be the busiest man in the first round as all three of them will want top spot.
Expect Brazil to top their group, then they've got a group B tie, that if they get through I reckon they'l go all the way. With Fred for the golden boot.

Shearer had gone ages prior to euro 96 without scoring and then look what happened. Venables told him he would start the first game and his place was his to lose from then on.
England will beat Italy and qualify from the group, but maybe not in first place.
I'm also looking at a cheeky outsider on Belgium.

[url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10501412/World-Cup-2014-Wallchart-Predictor-Game.html ]Predictor game[/url]

Lets see who's the best STW predictorer by the end of the Tournament

For those seeking information overload: http://theguide.fourfourtwo.com/en/home/index.html

Very entertaining friendly against Ecudor, the youngsters , Barkley and the Ox are running at the oppo and creating havoc....bit dodgy at the other end tho!

Oh and good goal for the new Liverpool man!

Woomph!

England defence has been very poor.

So, the planned England team formation has been leaked?

[img] [/img]

Only seen the second half but commensurate with their ability.Why James milners airfare wasn't spent on a new set of spinners for Rahim Sterlings vaixhall nova i don't know.

I never knew Scotland had MS Paint?

Opening ceremonies... What is the point?

+1

Just GET ON WITH IT.

This is bloody terrible, tempted to switch over to eastenders! 😆

fitba better make up for this crap!

To open things.

Anyway, predictions for tonight's game anyone? Have the streets calmed down in São Paolo yet?

Dd - what's wrong with a couple of national anthems (jlo and her in the blue could sing them) then the ref blows a whistle. Job done, hours of live broadcast and oodles of dosh saved.

Oh I dunno, I couldn't give a shit whether they have one or not. I only ever watch the Olympic one every four years anyway. I'll only be switching on for the game.

They should have had Elbow singing the theme tune.

Now THAT would have got the crowd on their feet!

All this build up, hours of chat and speculation only to be tempered by the usual headless chicken run-around and disappointment.
The TDF starts soon.

The England team visited an orphanage in Brazil today. It's heartbreaking to see their sad little faces with no hope," said Jose,age 6.

Good to see Scotland are involved in the World Cup , It must have been some job taking the sound system from the S.E.C.C.

Interesting use of eye wash by the police 8O.

Oops.

What's Portuguese for "I'm really sorry guys"?

Argentina or Germany to win - really thought it would be Germany until Reus got injured.

Save!

Neymar's a dirty bastid isn't he?
Supposed to be Brazil's new wunderkind. He'll be lucky to be playing next game...

That should have been a straight red for Neymar, he clearly looked at him and only looked away as he swung his arm at his face.

Brazil are cracking under the weight of expectation at the moment.

Scruffy goal from a guy who should have been sent off.

Shouldn't be on the pitch, never mind scoring! It'll be interesting to see if any other sides get that kind of refereeing leniency

suburbanreuben - Member

Neymar's a dirty bastid isn't he?

Damn! He just scored. Cummon! Cummon!

Please let Croatia wins.

Germany or Spain to win the cup.

Definitely don't want Brazil or Argentina to win.

England ... I will bet they will go out first round. 😆

Definitely don't want Brazil or Argentina to win

If Messi, Aguero and Higuain play well, then they will light up the tournament, and I hope Argentina do win.

England ... I will bet they will go out first round

Nah, they will be the revelation of the tournament.

*chuckles*

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