Part one of my preview for the World Cup...3 days to go!!! In a nutshell if you can't be bothered reading (I noticed the Daily Mail use this technique for the knuckleheads who are too stupid to read paragraphs and prefer bullet points of bullshit) here is a snapshot of groups A-D. 1) Brazil to win their group and the whole thing. 2) England will be decent, perhaps even good 3) Uruguay to be a bit rubbish. 4) Everyone to love Chile and Japan 5) Spain not to be ruled out 6) Colombia still sexy menus Falcao. Group A
BRAZIL CROATIA MEXICO CAMEROON Fixtures 12 June 2014 Brazil v Croatia, Arena de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, 21:00 (ITV) 13 June 2014 Mexico v Cameroon, Arena das Dunas, Natal, 17:00 (ITV) 17 June 2014 Brazil v Mexico, Estadio Castelao, Fortaleza, 20:00 (BBC) 18 June 2014 Cameroon v Croatia, Arena Amazonia, Manaus, 23:00 (ITV) 23 June 2014 Cameroon v Brazil, Estadio Nacional, Brasilia, 21:00 (ITV) 23 June 2014 Croatia v Mexico, Arena Pernambuco, Recife, 21:00 (ITV) Group A contains the hosts Brazil for the 2014 tournament and they should have little difficulty in winning a group that contains Mexico, Croatia and Cameroon. Brazil are going to be hard to beat at home with a fanatical support, and in this group, it would be a surprise if they failed to pick up 9 points against 3 opponents who have all performed poorly in the last year or more. Croatia staggered to qualification through the playoffs against Iceland having lost TWICE to Scotland in the qualification group while Mexico somehow qualified despite barely winning a game in their group and finishing 4th out of 6. Under Scolari, Brazi are more pragmatic than in days gone by, but in Neymar they have a potential star who lit up the Confederations Cup last year and while his debut season at Barcelona was not quite what he might have hoped for, there can be little doubt that Neymar will have had his mind on this tournament for the past 7 years of his young life and I expect fireworks from the youngster. I expect Brazil to win the group with Neymar and Fred amongst the goals and I think they will look good in doing it. Expect a comfortable win over Croatia in the opening match, while the Mexicans and Cameroon will provide little resistance in their next 2 fixtures to what should be a fine opening to the tournament for the hosts. It's not easy to predict who will join them in the 2nd round with the other 3 sides seemingly evenly matched. Mexico could sneak through and I expect their opening match with Cameroon to be crucial in deciding who will qualify but I won't be investing much in this group as I really cannot split the other 3 nations. Bo's Best Bets - Group A Brazil to win group 1/4 (duh) GROUP B SPAIN CHILE NETHERLANDS AUSTRALIA Fixtures 13 June 2014 Spain v Netherlands, Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador, 20:00 (BBC) 13 June 2014 Chile v Australia, Arena Pantanal, Cuiaba, 23:00 (ITV) 18 June 2014 Spain v Chile, Estadio do Maracana, Rio de Janeiro, 20:00 (BBC) 18 June 2014 Australia v Netherlands, Estadio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre, 17:00 (ITV) 23 June 2014 Australia v Spain, Arena da Baixada, Curitiba, 17:00 (ITV) 23 June 2014 Netherlands v Chile, Arena de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, 17:00 (ITV) Group B promises to be one of the most exciting groups of the tournament with champions Spain facing a replay of the 2010 final in their first match with The Netherlands while Chile are exciting, passionate and play a free flowing football that will win them plenty of fans this summer while Australia will bring a great support but qualification for the Aussies seems highly unlikely and I expect hem to go home with their cap in hand, perhaps even without scoring as I have mentioned in an earlier post. Spain will be strong and should see their way in to the next round although I am not convinced they can win a 4th successive International competition, there is no doubt they can go to at least a semi-final. Holland under Van Gaal could yet prove dangerous in a new look 5.3.2 shape which will see Arjen Robben playing up front with Robin Van Persie (fitness permitted) and perhaps some have written this Dutch outfit off too early. Myself included once again. The second position in the groups seems to be a a 50/50 call but I feel Chile can take advantage of an inexperienced Dutch side and I expect their match to be a real classic encounter, a potential game of the tournament, and crucial to the outcome of the group. Chile to edge it seems the popular choice and I think it is a real possibility. Bo's Best Bets Group B Chile to qualify 5/6 Australia to finish bottom of group 1/4 Australia to be lowest tournament scorers 4/1 Group C COLOMBIA GREECE JAPAN IVORY COAST Fixtures 14 June 2014 Colombia v Greece, Estadio Mineirao, Belo Horizonte, 17:00 (BBC) 15 June 2014 Ivory Coast v Japan, Arena Pernambuco, Recife, 02:00 (ITV) 19 June 2014 Colombia v Ivory Coast, Estadio Nacional, Brasilia, 17:00 (BBC) 19 June 2014 Japan v Greece, Arena das Dunas, Natal, 23:00 (BBC) 24 June 2014 Japan v Colombia, Arena Pantanal, Cuiaba, 21:00 (BBC) 24 June 2014 Greece v Ivory Coast, Estadio Castelao, Fortaleza, 21:00 (BBC) Colombia are favourites to progress from what looks a very tight group where all 4 teams have a genuine opportunity to progress to the second phase. The Colombians have been attracting a great deal of interest in the past year but the loss of their talismanic front man Radamel Falcao will undoubtedly prove a blow. However there remains a great deal of quality in the South Americans. Porto's Jackson Martinez could make an impact in place of Falcao, and in Jamie Rodriguez of Monaco they have a player who can light up the tournament with his flair and passing ability in the play maker role. I expect the Colombians to progress but Japan especially represent a danger as they have shown some tremendous form in the past year and could surprise one or 2 people in this tournament with their flair and attacking approach which does leave them somewhat exposed at times. However, I expect both to qualify and to excite the masses with their attacking approach. Ivory Coast are aged but still have wonderful talent in Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba and they will play their part in making this a good group to watch while Greece have Giorgos Samaras. Yes Greece will likely finish bottom but this group will be close and ultra competitive and I expect all 4 teams to still have a chance to progress on the final day. Bo's Best Bets Group C Colombia to win group 5/6 Japan to qualify 1/1 Greece to finish bottom of group 6/4 Group D URUGUAY ITALY ENGLAND COSTA RICA Fixtures 14 June 2014 Uruguay v Costa Rica, Estadio Castelao, Fortaleza, 20:00 (ITV) 14 June 2014 England v Italy, Arena Amazonia, Manaus, 23:00 (BBC) 19 June 2014 Uruguay v England , Arena de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, 20:00 (ITV) 20 June 2014 Italy v Costa Rica, Arena Pernambuco, Recife, 17:00 (BBC) 24 June 2014 Italy v Uruguay, Arena das Dunas, Natal, 17:00 (ITV) 24 June 2014 Costa Rica v England, Estadio Mineirao, Belo Horizonte, 17:00 (ITV) England head to Brazil to take part in what looks on paper, amongst one of the toughest of groups in the tournament and it is extremely hard to pick a winner or indeed which 2 nations will progress to the 2nd round. For me there is no clear favourite but I have a big feeling that England will be one of the two who makes it through. There is a lot of new talent in this English team and I find myself increasingly drawn to their possibilities of going reasonably far in the competition although a lot depends on whether they have the energy to survive the blazing heat of Manaus in particular. I just have a feeling that England could do well in this tournament. The spirit seems right, the quality is decent and with a fresh injection of exciting young talent, England could finally impress on a World stage. Italy meanwhile have been in awful form including a truly staggering home draw to Luxembourg during the past week and are notoriously slow starters in tournament competition but should have enough quality to make it out of the group as well with Pirlo still running the midfield with the likes of de Rossi while Mario Balotelli will look to continue his impressive tournament form from Euro 2012 and if he doesn't, they have a man whose very name is the perfect oxymoron (not sure that is the correct word but you get the idea)..Immobile is anything but that, and he could prove to be a real danger if given the chance...Toto Schillaci anyone?. Uruguay meanwhile rely heavily on Luis Suarez and even if the Liverpool man is fit, I expect them to be big dissapointments in this group and I am backing both of the European sides to qualify ahead of Uruguay and the unfancied Costa Rica who while underdogs, could easily take a point or two in the group, especially in that fixture with Uruguay. Bo's Best Bets Group D England to win group 21/10 Uruguay to finish bottom 5/1 Comments are closed.
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