Last edited Mon Jun 9, 2014, 03:47 PM - Edit history (1)

and US not, though not by much

http://fivethirtyeight.com/interactives/world-cup/

...no way in hell...Italy will destroy Costa Rica and England, and they will probably beat Uruguay, unless that game is meaningless..

There are some other really dodgy predictions in there as well...

Methinks Nate should stick to predicting US politics..

I hope Howard Webb isn't calling the final again this time.

Brazil/Germany is my prediction for the final. The way things are shaping up, I think the last four will be Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, and France (mind you I've not actually looked at the schedule to see if this scenario is even a possibility).

Referees from the final four (I think) nations will be excluded.

And good luck with that.

When they went out to Bulgaria (Lechkov header) who had never won a WC game prior to that tournament.

Thanks for that. I didn't know what had happened to him. I do fondly remember him and that Bulgarian squad, though. Many of them looked about 50 years old or so , including Letchkov, but he was only like 26. I remember being stunned at finding that out.

Group A
1. Brazil (obviously)
2. Croatia

This is a fairly poor Mexico side that only qualified by the skin of their teeth. Apparently they'll have more fans there than any team except for Brazil. I don't think it's enough.

Group B
1. Chile
2. Spain

The Spanish players are really tired and this is an exceptionally poor Holland squad with poor defence. Chile gets the South American advantage.

Group C
1. Colombia
2. Ivory Coast

Last chance for Ivory Coast's golden generation. Fortunately for them they're in a weak group. Greece can't score. Japan are a potential dark horse, though. They just might make it out of this group after all.

Group D
1. England
2. Uruguay

Suarez might be out, but Uruguay still gets near home advantage even if they're not as good as 4 years ago. Italy are slow starters typically, and it may cost them this time. Costa Rica are no-hopers here.

Group E.
1. France
2. Switzerland

Honduras are not very good and Ecuador are only good at altitude

Group F.
1. Argentina
2. Bosnia

Argentina are potential WC winners and Bosnia are the hipsters' choice but we shouldn't hold that against them. Not impressed with this Nigeria side, though they have a lot of recognisable names in the team.

Group G.
1. Germany
2. Portugal

Sorry USA, Germany are another title contender and I fear Portugal are also too much. In fact, I'd rate Ghana slightly higher than this US side which has regressed a bit. Dempsey moving to MLS was a bad move.

Group H.
1. Belgium
2. Russia

Everyone expects great things from Belgium but I'm far from convinced. Russia are a decent side but only have all their players playing at home which is not helpful in international tournaments. Algeria and South Korea are not good enough.

Round of 16
Brazil def. Spain
Chile def. Croatia
Colombia def. Uruguay
England over Ivory Coast
France defeats Bosnia
Argentina knocks out Switzerland
Germany beats Russia
Portugal beats Belgium

I'm think Argentina, Germany and Brazil are the obvious favourites. England out in the quarter final on penalties again. Holland, Spain and Italy will be the disappointments. Japan are outsiders for a quarter final spot.

Looking forward to Thursday night. I hope to get my TV fixed by then so I don't have to watch it on a crappy laptop screen.

That's pretty good.

Best I can tell you picked Argentina, Germany, Brazil, and England as your final four, and you didn't really name a set of final cup teams or the winner.

Same as me. Hooray for us!

Oh well, Germany's now my new tip for the champions, although I think Algeria will grind them into extra time, possibly penalties in their upcoming fixture, before succumbing.

Same as I did. Not too bad.

You're still in the running to get 3 of 4.

I think France will get into the last four, but otherwise I'd not be surprised if you've nailed it.

Especially like how your final turns out

...Messi to finally do the business in the knock out stages of a world cup.

And by sheer co-incidence, look who my favourite unfashionable northern rugby union club has as their special guest for the world cup final!

http://www.rotherhamrugby.co.uk/news/1376/watch-the-fifa-world-cup-final-with-ossie-ardiles-at-the-titans!/

It's all in fun.

But not now, it's warm.

Obviously Mexico is our best bet. Keeping my fingers crossed for Mexico!

Though not necessarily in the correct order. Still that's pretty good.

The only really weak teams I see left are Algeria, Greece, and Nigeria. The others, while there are only maybe 5 teams who could go all the way, do provide some exciting football to watch. I look forward to the knockout games.

Mexico and Costa Rica completely surprised me. I didn't expect Spain to win the whole thing, but I sure didn't expect a complete collapse either. Belgium were even more of a letdown than I expected, despite their 3 wins in an easy group. Ah, England....

Biggest mystery of all: who the hell would hire Capello (the highest-paid manager no less) as national team manager with his 1 win in 7 record of dreary football?

I didn't expect that much from Colombia after the Falcao injury but they're looking great.

Pretty good.

crazed fans have actually been known to kill the players when they lose a game. One guy shot a player in the airport as
they were arriving home. It's hard to identify with that kind of passion. I think Holland will fair well.

You picked it! Germany - Argentina for the final.

I don't see how it's going to be 3-2 (a repeat of '86?) though, but as sure as hell hope it won't be repeat of the '90 final.

Germany 3-0 in regulation time. I both predict that and hope that's how it will turn out.

Sometimes you just accept the luck that comes your way.

As for my final score guess, maybe we'll get lucky and the finalist will put on a show for us.

In fact, I hope Germany repeat their performance against Brazil tomorrow!

Honestly I don't care what the final is, just so long as nobody beats Manuel Neuer and at least one person beats Sergio Romo!

Great tournament!

And thanks to everyone in this forum who participated in the discussion and comments. This forum is where the true football fans are. The posters in GD who talked about the WC are a bunch of posers. They aren't the true fans.

League play starts in another month. Looking forward to discussing it here with the true fans.

I think that by your standards I'm both a true football fan and a poser, so I'll have to think about how I'm going to resolve that contradiction.

Bring on the new season. Sanchez signed for Arsenal which makes me a happy Gooner.

The posers are those in GD (and even in this forum) who showed up for only USA games and/or the final games.

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

No comment really needed!

Last edited Mon Jul 14, 2014, 11:25 AM - Edit history (1)