FIFA World Cup 2014 eBookBackground information about the football feast of the year!

Welcome to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in BrazilIt’s that time again – four years has past and another World Cup is ahead of us. Beginning in 1930, the sporting event has been held every four years since then, pitting the best national football teams of the world against each other. As any fan of the sport knows, the last World Cup was help in South Africa, with Spain emerging as the victor. The Spanish will try to defend their title this year in Brazil. After three years of qualifications, the field has been narrowed down to the 32 countries that will be represented at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. These teams will be playing in various locations within the host country of Brazil and the tournament will last for about a month with one team emerging as the 2014 World Cup champion. Of the 19 World Cups that have been held since the tournament began, there have only been eight countries that have won the title. The fact that this year’s World Cup will be held in Brazil is exciting for many reasons. Firstly, Brazil is the only country to have competed in every single World Cup. Also, Brazil has more World Cup championships than any other country with a total of five. The 2014 World Cup begins on June 12 and lasts until July 13. This is the second time that Brazil will be hosting the tournament, having hosted it back in 1950. This is the fifth time that the tournament will be held on the continent of South America and it’s the first time since Argentina hosted the World Cup in 1978.

The VenuesAn interesting thing about this year’s World Cup in Brazil is that an exception was made in how many host cities there will be during the tournament. It is standard that there be in between eight and 10 host cities within the country, however, there will be 12 for this year’s tournament. The 12 host cities will be Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São Paulo. Each of these cities is the capital of its state, and the selection of the cities covers all of the main regions of Brazil. This was done purposely to avoid keeping the matches concentrated in the southeast region of the country, as was the case with the 1950 World Cup. According to reports, over $3.5 billion has been spent thus far on building and renovating stadiums in preparation for the tournament. Five of the host cities needs stadiums built from the ground up, while others are being extensively renovated. The final match will obviously be held in The Estádio do Maracanã, located in Rio de Janeiro. It is the largest stadium in Brazil and already holds the FIFA World Cup record in attendance with 199,854 fans watching the finals held in this stadium in 1950. As far as the work being done in preparation for the World Cup is concerned, there have been successes, but also problems. One of the biggest success stories is the construction of the Castelão stadium in Fortaleza. The work on the stadium not only came in within the set budget for the project, but there was money to be spared as well.

Even with the World Cup right around the corner, Brazil is still working and putting the final touches on many of the new and renovated stadiums. In fact, there were six venues that missed the December 31, 2013 deadline for being completed. There was tragedy involved in the construction of the Arena Corinthians in November 2013, when a crane collapsed killing two construction workers and destroying part of the stadium in the process. The Arena de Baixada was so far behind schedule that Curitiba was actually dropped as a host city. However, FIFA confirmed in February that the city would remain a host, even though the stadium construction has been so drastically delayed. The pressure is still on, but it seems that Brazil will be able to finish all of its projects in time for the big event.

The TeamsAs with every World Cup, there will be 32 teams competing. The host country, Brazil, qualified automatically, while the rest of the teams had to earn their spots through regional competition. Here is a list of all 32 teams in alphabetical order, and what fans can expect from each.

ArgentinaThe qualifying round for Argentina was quite impressive. It was a double­round robin that included nine excellent teams looking for a spot in the World Cup. Argentina finished impressive with a 9­2­5 record, which easily makes them the most potent team from the continent this side of Brazil. When it comes to expectations, both Argentina and Brazil are probably in the second class of favorites, with European powerhouses like Germany, Portugal, Spain and Belgium expected to be the best teams in the tournament. Of course, the amount of talent on the squad is massive as always, including stars like Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Angel di Maria. Argentina is expected to make it to the semifinals, but they might need some luck on their side to make it any further.

AlgeriaAlgeria had a fairly easy time with qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. They came away with five wins in six matches, giving them a clear lead over other contenders in the region such as Rwanda, Mali and Benin and sending them into the playoffs with a top seed. They had to beat Burkina Faso in the end in order to secure their second straight World Cup berth. The Algerian team is considered to be significantly stronger this year than they were four years ago. Returning players such as Bougherra, Rafik Djebbour, Hassan Yebda and Carl Medjani should give the team some experience to steer the young talent on the squad into the right direction. Even though they are not expected to advance very far, the team is strong enough to upset a few opponents in group play.

AustraliaAustralia is just not that good. The only reason they made it into the completion was because Brazil qualified automatically and they had an easy group to qualify against. They only scored 12 goals against unimpressive squads like Iraq, Jordan, Japan and Oman.

To put it plainly, Australia have absolutely no chance of doing anything noteworthy in the World Cup. Their veterans are all past their primes and there is not too much talent in the young stable of players.

BelgiumIt seems that the Belgian squad is poised to make a serious run in this year’s tournament. They went undefeated in the qualifying rounds and most impressively won all of their road games as well. In qualifications, the Belgian team only gave up four goals, which is impressive considering that the competition did include fellow World Cup competitors Croatia and a fairly difficult Serbian team. Belgium has a huge amount of young talent, Vincent Kompany, Marouane Fellaine, Romelu Lukaku, Christian Benteke and Kevin De Bruyne are some of the most notably players on this year’s squad. Despite the fact that the team is significantly younger than most of the top competition, they are expected to do very well in the tournament. Many are expecting Belgium to make it to the quarterfinals, in fact.

Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia had a pretty easy time qualifying for the World Cup. It finished with an 8­1­1 record in their group. The same record was posted by Greece; however, Bosnia was able to defeat Greece at home by a score of 3­1 after putting up a 0­0 tie against them on Greek soil. Even though the team performed better than expected in the qualifiers, it seems that they simply do not have the depth in their lineup that is needed to compete with the big names in the tournament. However, all of Bosnia’s best players are clearing entering their primes as players – including Edin Dzeko, Vedad Ibisevic, Miralem Pjanic, Senad Lulic and goalkeeper Asmir Begovic. But chances are that this just won’t be enough to get them past the knockout stages of the tournament.

BrazilNo introduction is really needed for Brazil. The team qualified automatically, since it is hosting the World Cup, but there’s a good chance that the team would have qualified easily anyway. After all, Brazil is the only team that has participated in every single World Cup since 1930 and the only team to win it five times. As with every World Cup, Brazil enters the competition expecting to win it. Their loss to Uruguay in the finals of the last World Cup that Brazil hosted in 1950 is still considered a national tragedy by Brazilians of all generations. However, winning it all will not be an easy task. The attackers are there, but the defensive unit is fairly young and inexperienced in international competition. Expect Brazil to make it to the semifinals at least, but it might be hard to get passed a team like Spain or Germany when it comes down to it.

CameroonCameroon qualified easily, edging out Congo, Libya, Togo and Tunisia. The match that solidified them as the best team in the group was the impressive 4­1 victory over Tunisia in the final stages of qualifications.

While the team does have a solid defense front, there is a lack of goal scoring talent in the front lines, and this is what will hold the team back. If they are able to turn some of their presumably rare scoring chances into goals, the team could cause an upset or two. However, it’s most likely that the outcome will be a short three matches and out for the squad.

ChileChile has an impressive run of six wins that got them into third place in their group and gave them a trip to Brazil. The team is deep and is looking to make a very deep run in the tournament. A lot will depend on the defense and their ability to handle the pressure that elite teams will be placing on them throughout the competition. If everything pans out for Chile, they might be able to sneak into the quarterfinals and give someone a hard time in that phase of the tournament as well.

ColombiaThe South American qualifying group is always the hardest one to get through. Of course, Colombia, and the rest of the hopefuls, were helped this year by the fact that Brazil did not have to compete for a spot on the count of their hosting the World Cup. Colombia ended up finishing in second place in their group, behind the dominant and impressive Argentina. The team should consider the fact that they made the World Cup an accomplishment in and of itself; however, advancing deep into the tournament is very unlikely.

Costa RicaEven though Costa Rica got off to a rough start in qualifying competition, looking shaky against Panama and the United States, the team went unbeaten in its next six matches as they started to gel. The last victory against Mexico was very impressive and almost knocked Mexico out of the competition. Costa Rica has some strikers that can put the ball in the net when given their opportunities. Joel Campbell and Álvaro Saborío can definitely score. The biggest problem is with the defense, which will probably collapse against the pressure of more prominent opponents. The team is most likely looking at an early exit from the World Cup because of this.

Côte d'IvoireBetter known as Ivory Coast, the team had to get through Morocco, Tanzania, Senegal and Gambia to advance to the World Cup. The team finished as the first seed on the continent fairly easily. Côte d'Ivoire is a fast team that always looks to up the tempo on their opponents. However, the biggest problem with that is that most of their best players have probably already seen their most productive years. Drogba, Zokora and the two Touré can lead the team, but they lack younger players to bolster their efforts. If everything clicks for the team, there is a possibility that they could make it to the quarterfinals, but considering that the team is steadily aging and led by players that are supposedly past their prime, expect an earlier exist from the big show.

Croatia

The road to the World Cup was harder than it should have been for Croatia. After losing to Scotland, the team failed to win another game in its next three matches. The team did however manage to squeak into the competition. One of the biggest problems in the Croatian quest for a good showing in Brazil is the availability of scorer Mario Mandžukic, who was red­carded in a qualifying match against Iceland. The team is talented and exciting to watch, but without Mandžukic might not be able to score as effectively. They might get past the first stage, however, based on talent and creative attacking alone.

EnglandEngland is almost always considered a contender for winning it all when it comes to the World Cup, and this year should not be any different. Even though their qualification group was an extremely difficult one, they managed to survive with six victories and four draws in competitive matches. England is known for not being the most exciting team to watch, but that does not mean that they cannot stand toe to toe with just about any team in the tournament. Look for much of their success to depend on how well Rooney is playing however, especially in tight games. Though the team seems to be in a rebuilding phase still, England is expected to make it to the quarterfinals at least this year.

EcuadorEcuador has had to deal with a lot of adversity, namely the tragic death of one of the team’s most promising strikers, Christian Benitez. Ecuador needed to defeat Uruguay in order to qualify, and was able to do so and grab the final automatic place in the competition. Playing in South America will definitely help the squad out and they could be looking to making it to the knockout stage. Even though there is not a huge amount of extraordinary talent on the squad, they are very consistent and play with a lot of discipline. However, the fact that Benitez was far and away the team’s best finisher and goal scorer is an issue that they are going to have a hard time recovering from this soon after his passing. They could upset a good team or two, but there is not much of a chance that they will make it anywhere close to the quarterfinals without their star player.

FranceThe qualifiers were a little harder than expected for France, considering that they had to go through the defending World Cup champs Spain in order to make it to the tournament. Ukraine also gave France some problems when playing in Kiev, but they were able to win with a resounding score of 3­0 in Paris in order to clinch a World Cup berth. The French team is aging and most of the starts and mainstays might not have the fire that they once had on the pitch. Also, the younger crop of players does not offer the same quality that their older players boasted in their primes. If the team does come together properly and if the coaching staff is able to motivate the older players, the French might be able to make it to the quarterfinals. But there is a good chance that they can fall out of the competition earlier than that, all things considered.

Germany

Germany is a well­oiled machine, which was made evident by the fact that they were able to score a whopping 36 goals during qualifying. Germany, just like Brazil, has never failed to make it into the World Cup. The only time they looked vulnerable in qualifying was when they let Sweden come back from a four­goal deficit. Other than that, Germany looked ready for Cup from the get­go. Germany’s best players are all entering their primes, and players like Ozil, Schweinsteiger, Kroos, Muller, and Gotze are among the most exciting players in the tournament. Expect them to be goal scoring machines in the Cup, just as they were during the qualifiers. Germany is expecting to make it to the finals and anything short of winning the country’s fourth World Cup will be considered a disappointment for them. They are definitely one of the favorites in 2014.

GhanaGhana coasting in the qualifiers and only Zambia gave them a little bit of trouble. The 6­1 victory over Egypt at home was the most impressive performance that they put on display in international competition last year. Ghana has a great set of midfielders who can control the playing field and really create opportunities in a heartbeat. They are quick, play with passion and are very disciplined on defense. This team could become a more serious contender in the next World Cup if its key players reach their personal peaks by then. However, don’t expect them to do much this time around.

GreeceWell, the Greek road to the World Cup certainly wasn’t pretty. They had an 8­1­1 record, but most of these matches were hard­fought, low­scoring affairs with Greece putting most of their trust in their defense. They ended up tying with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the group and only scored 12 goals in their 10 games. Even though they only lost once in the qualifiers, it’s going to be hard to win in the World Cup if you can’t score goals. It’s just that plain and simple. Don’t expect them to make it out of the first round. There’s a good chance that they might not even score a goal during World Cup action.

HondurasHonduras coasted into the World Cup. One of its most impressive showings was the absolute thrashing of Canada, which they won by a score of 8­1. Another impressive showing was their 1­0 victory over the excellent Costa Rican team. Their group was not that difficult, and the competition will be considerably stiffer in the World Cup. Don’t expect them to score near as many goals as they did in qualifiers, and don’t expect them to post regular shutouts either. They will probably be gone after the first round.

IranIran finished atop their qualifying group and have their best performance when playing in South Korea and winning 1­0. However, they will probably be gone from the World Cup after the group stage. There just isn’t enough talent on the squad to make any considerable moves in just serious completion.

ItalyItaly has a fairly easy time in the qualifiers, considering that the other teams in the group all ended up splitting their head to head games. Italy posted an impressive record of six wins and four ties in the group, which gave them the top spot. Italy has learned from its 2010 failures in which it was counting too much on the older players that helped them to win the World Cup in 2006. The team has now done some serious rebuilding and is primed to make another run at the title. Mario Balotelli is one of the most explosive forwards in the competition, and Stephan El Shaarawy is no slouch either. Remember, Italy almost took the Euro 2012 championship in 2012, just losing to Spain. Expect an impressive performance in the World Cup from them. It might not be their time just yet, but they will most likely be in the quarterfinals and put up a good fight in them.

JapanJapan usually doesn’t have many problems qualifying in the Asian group, and this time it was no different. They handled Australia, Oman, Iraq and Jordan quite easily. While the Japanese are certainly good enough to make it out of their region and into the World Cup, being competitive in the World Cup is a whole different challenge. However, they did have two impressive recent outings against top European teams Belgium and The Netherlands. Japan might be the underdog with the best shot of reaching the quarterfinals if they play as well as they have shown that they can play.

MexicoMexico has been plagued by problems with the brass. There hasn’t been much consistency in the managerial and coaching side, which is what hurts them most coming into the World Cup. Mexico has players who are able to play in a more aggressive and exciting European style, which will give them an edge over some of the other lesser South American teams. They might be able reach the knockout round if they are able to set up a consistent attack and avoid making mistakes.

The NetherlandsThe Netherlands have a young squad that is poised to make a serious run in the World Cup. They won nine of their games and had one draw, scoring 29 more goals than they allowed in. While the side is exciting and good at putting the ball in the net, it might be a little too immature still. The team is very young and might not be able to deal with the pressure of playing at the highest level just yet. However, there are some strong veterans in the mix, like van Persie, Robben and Rafael van der Vaart who can help the younger players get into the right mindset. If they do play up to their potential, they could make it to the quarterfinals.

NigeriaNigeria went through Kenya, Malawi and Namibia easily to take the crown of their group in qualifying. However, they will definitely not have such an easy time in the World Cup. The easy

victories over lesser teams in the qualifiers masked some of the big problems that the Nigerian team has. While the talent level is high on the squad, there isn’t enough to compete with the best South American and European teams. Nigeria might make it to the knockout stage, but it will be hard to expect them to get any further.

PortugalPortugal had a fairly easy draw for their qualification group. However, they seemed to take some of their opponents lightly, losing sure points to Israel and Northern Ireland. They put it together, however, when it came time to play Sweden. Of course, Ronaldo is still the best player on the team and is still a force to be reckoned with on absolutely any stage. He also has a great back four supporting him and Moutinho in the midfield to set him up nicely. Getting Portugal further than the quarterfinals will rest on Ronaldo’s shoulders, and if he blacks out with his play and performs at his best, they could sneak into the semis.

RussiaRussia beat out Portugal for the top stop in their qualifying group, which is an impressive feat on its own. They split the two head­to­head games and achieved a better record playing against the other teams in the group than Portugal did. When it comes to World Cup competition, the Russian team seems to never be able to put it quite together. They have looked promising coming into the tournament on many occasions and then they usually do not make good on their potential. The biggest problem in the team is that not many of them have any international experience; in fact, Cheryshev is the only player with significant experience in international play. Don’t expect much from them this year either.

South KoreaThe only team that South Korea lost to in the qualifiers was Iran, and they lost to them twice. However, it seems that South Korea was not playing at top speed, since they were almost assured a sure pass into the World Cup with their weak qualifier group. The players of the 2002 that took everyone by surprise over ten years ago are all gone, and unfortunately, their replacements are not as capable. There are some strong midfielders and Dong­Wong is an excellent striker, but unless they have another brilliant run in them like, they are likely to bow out after the group stage.

SpainEven though they drew Spain in the qualifier group, Spain did not have any problems getting in to the World Cup. They actually handled France quite easily. As expected, Spain is definitely coming into the World Cup as one of the favorites. They are defending their title, and if they do win it all this year, the will join Brazil and Italy as the only countries that have ever been able to defend a World Cup championship. Spain will most probably make it into the last four teams, but it whether they will be able to win it all will depend

on how steadfast their defense will be and whether or not they will be able to control the tempo of the games against the better teams they encounter.

SwitzerlandThe Swiss had a very easy draw in qualifiers and went undefeated as expected. Even though it was a great showing, perhaps they would have benefited from some good competition in the qualifiers to prep them better for the big show. The Swiss will not be as lucky with their draw in World Cup competition, and they are expected to be out after three games unless they pull off some unexpected upsets.

United StatesEven though the competition in the qualifying round was not that impressive, the United States players still managed to make it hard on themselves. This does not bode well for their World Cup chances. The American team does have the talent to make it to the last 16, but that is only if all of these players exceed their potential and play at their absolute best, which is unlikely to happen. They are significantly thinner in talent than most contenders, and one key injury or red card could take them out entirely. If the team gets a difficult draw and has to play top European and South American teams right from the start, don’t expect them to get very far. They might be able to get to the knockout round if they draw weaker Asian and African teams, however.

UruguayUruguay did not make things easy on themselves in the qualifiers either and instead of getting a direct berth, they had to play intercontinentally in order to secure it. They did however manhandle Jordan with a 5­0 victory to show that they definitely deserve to be a part of the World Cup. The biggest problem with the current team is that all of their best players are on offense. There is not much balance across the field. Even though goal scoring certainly won’t be a problem with the likes of Suarez and Cavani up front, the defense is expected to struggle against the to­tier international teams they will surely face in the tournament. They could still easily make the top 16, though.

The FavoritesWhen it comes to international football competition, there are always perennial favorites. Some teams that usually are not favorites can have a generation that leads them to the head of the pack, but generally, there are not many surprises in international football when talking about the best squads in the world. Brazil is always considered a world mega­power in football, and this year brings nothing new. The fact that they are hosting the tournament this year as well means that they will have an extra incentive to win it all and the fans expect a victory on home turf. Expect the home field advantage to be very meaningful to the squad, since their fans are known as being some of best in the world. According to Las Vegas odd­makers, Brazil is the definite favorite. The odds of Brazil winning it all are currently 3/1. If they do win it all, they will be the first host country to do so since France

won the World Cup title in Paris in 1998. Brazil finished second that year of course, and then won the next World Cup, which made it the only country to ever win five of them. This year could be number six for the famed team. Expect Neymar to lead the team, and perhaps the entire tournament in scoring. He is a young player that has a lot to prove on the international level. After showing what he can do in his first season with Barcelona this year, he is intent on making a mark in international play wearing the green and yellow of Brazil. So who could challenge Brazil for the title? According to Vegas, neighbors Argentina have the best chances, with odds of 9/2 to win it all. Superstar Messi will be leading the squad of course. Even though the team has not had much international success as of late and has not made it to the World Cup finals since 1990, expect Argentina to have an advantage over some of the European powerhouses simply because they are going to be playing in South America. After the two South American powerhouses, the favorites shift to Europe. The other three biggest favorites for winning it all are Germany, Spain and the surprisingly strong Belgium. Germany is a perennial favorite and they have placed in the top three in all of the last three World Cups. Of course, Spain won the last World Cup, and it would be no surprise if they won it again this year. What gives Brazil and Argentina the advantage is that they are going to face easier groups to kick off the tournament, and the fact that neither of the strongest European teams have much experience playing internationally in South America. The Vegas odds for Germany taking the Cup are 5/1, while the Spaniards face 7/1 odds according to Nevada odd­makers. The most surprising favorite coming into the tournament is Belgium. They are ranked above powerhouses like Portugal, England and Italy thanks to their impressive showing in the qualifiers. The Belgians are a very young team with a lot to prove. They are well­rounded and can both score a ton of goals and keep the ball out of their net. Their odds for winning the World Cup are currently at 12/1.

The Underdogs to WatchThe great thing about watching the World Cup, is that there are always surprising teams that you wouldn’t expect to make a run causing upsets and making things interesting. Sure, most of these teams never end up winning the World Cup, but they do make it interesting, even though the perennial powerhouses almost always take the title. This year there are also great underdogs to look out for – teams that could make it to the knockout round and also give the bigger and better teams a run for their money. One of the most interesting underdogs is Chile. The offense is marvelous and the high­octane attack alone might be able to get Chile out of its difficult group and surprise a lot of people. The team scored 29 goals in the qualifying rounds, and Argentina was the only team in their group that scored more. Matias Fernandez and Alexis Sanchez are the leaders of the team. Fernandez sets up chances from the midfield and Sanchez is the finisher who has a nose for the goal and a great talent for making the most of his scoring opportunities.

The downfall of the team could be their defense, however. It is not as strong as the midfield and attackers, but if the defense gels and plays well in the World Cup expect Chile to upset a few bigger teams. Even though England is usually considered to be at the top of the heap, they will be entering this world cup as definite underdogs. England is strange in the sense that they do have great talent at every single position, but they just haven’t been able to make it work. While they did have a very weak qualifying group to go through, the English team handled their opponents with little effort, scoring 31 goals and only allowing four. Wayne Rooney will be leading the squad and he seems to be playing with a full head of steam. He scored seven goals while playing in only six qualifying matches. One of the biggest advantages that the English squad has over most of the others competing in this World Cup is that a vast majority of their team has considerable experience in international competition. The one problem with that is that most of these players are already past their primes.The team tends to struggle on defense and in the midfield at times, and it seems that they have not been able to gel just yet and find a team identity. However, if they do put it all together by June, they will be very exciting to watch. If you are looking to root for a real underdog that no one expects great things from, check out Ivory Coast. The team has two of the absolute best attackers in the entire tournament in Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou.They also balance each other out very nicely. While Drogba is getting old and might not be as fast and dangerous as he used to be, he has a lot of international experience and can still play at a very high level when it counts. Kalou is a young player that is looking to make a name for himself in international competition. His passion combined with Drogba’s experience should make them a deadly one­two punch. The team looked excellent in the qualifiers and if there is any underdog that is poised to really shake things up this year and surprise everyone, it is definitely them.