FIFA World Cup 2014

[FoxxyBrown1111]

So why didn't South Africa reach the final in 2010, Germany in 2006, South Korea AND Japan in 2002, USA in 1994, Italy in 1990, Mexico in 1986, Spain in 1980, Mexico in 1970, Chile in 1962, Switzerland in 1954, and France in 1938?

Don´t know what that has got to do with BRA 2014, or ARG 1978...
I mean you don´t seriously doubt that the WC 78 was a big fake, do you?

Anyway, let me give you a little answer: SA was used, and then thrown to the dustbin. That´s what normally happens to that continent. Sad story, but true... Anyway, let me make it short: SA was the first ever home team not to make the 2nd round at least. Honestly I was shocked back then.
GER 2006 had a crap team, everybody was laughing about, yet they made it far. Korea was simply a joke in 2002. The fix screamed to you. It was scandalous, I should have stopped right then, not only after the farce of 2010 (search Weinreich; topic 50%!! of games influenced by wrong ref decisions)...
OK, here we go. 2014. BRA with high influence in world soccer. A country down to their knees, needed to be numbed. TV ratings will skyrocked, Adidas and Co. can´t sleep by all nervousness they have for their mega business in front. I guess they get a ***** all night for the upcoming dollar rain. Whole Brazil would sell the last shirt and stop eating for a WC win. This is too big too fail to leave it to pure chance. Big politics and business meet "sports" here. And "sports" has lost long ago in soccer under FIFA government. Their "betradar" is a joke, games are fixed all over the place, mostly in shady chinese sportsbooks. The whole thing is out of hand. Stories of fixed games make headlines every half year. And that´s only the tip of the iceberg. If you can fix the whole Italy Series A, you won´t have a problem to find enough corrupted officials in a country down and out, but rife with corruption. Pockets are endless to bring the Cup home. They were in 1978, they will be in 2014. No tiny doubt about it.
My confidence is high, I am 99% sure that BRA is going to the final*. The business is made by then (sold merchandise, high TV ratings, a numbed country). Mine too. I just made my highest single bet ever. The payout is 1:2.75. After tax its 1:2.61... The net win will be enough for my next flight to the beach.

* The tiny doubt I have, are the deep pockets of the chinese syndicates. They did it before, now, and then (see BRA-GHA as biggest example).... OTOH, I don´t think they can play with the big boys. The other side will pay a better price. Still, funny would be if the fix is in from both sides. We would witness some real grotesque games...

Of course its possible that there will be some refereeing decisions go in Brazils favour - but given how everyone suspects hostal bias in the first place, it can't be too obvious which makes it very difficult to implement.

Why? They did it in the Rossi days, 1978, in Bundesliga games, in Belgium, in Finnland, they favoured France twice, they got South Korea trou, at least a complete Series A season was fixed... The list is endless. Just one example of a thousand: ITA-AUS 2006. The ref kept the game going until the 96th minute, took his chance to call a penalty on a non foul, and immediately after the goal was scored, he called the game without even re-opening! That was one of the most obvious cheat I ever saw. And who cared? May some heated debates, but it didn´t change a thing. Soccer fans still believe in fairytales, the business went unharmed...

But besides that I can't see how FIFA would rig it for Brazil. Any other option is way too complicated and requires so many people in the know leakage of the conspiracy would be inevitable and not worth it.

See above. Not a must FIFA itself does it... And since when is it too complicated to fix soccer games? ARG made it trou a whole tournament (1978). Italy got its league fixed for at least one complete season...
All you need is to bribe or pressure one person. Either the ref, the goalie, or a defender. The neanderthal rules of soccer make fixes one of the easiest possible in sports...

Brazil facing a shock knockout in the last 16 or quarters would probably be more profitable for them even, then a routine hostfavourite ultimately truimphs tournament like the 2011 Rugby World cup.

Can you explain?

Finally: ... now I wait for the flak to my side. Insults will come in (as usual if my opinions are to hard to swallow), I will be called a conspiracy theorist, and what else...
But guys, keep in mind: The hard facts are on my side. All the described fixes happened (and then some many more). You OTOH only have the fairytales on your side.

Anyway, enjoy the games.

 

[leftover pie]

It's obviously going to be Australia who win

I can see us winning our group and then progressing to the semis quite easily.

come on ostraya!

Looking forward to all the matches, nothing beats the drama of the world cup.

Really looking forward to seeing Bosnia on the big stage <3

 

[leftover pie]

Just one example of a thousand: ITA-AUS 2006. The ref kept the game going until the 96th minute, took his chance to call a penalty on a non foul, and immediately after the goal was scored, he called the game without even re-opening! That was the one of the most obvious cheat I ever saw. And who cared?

oh we cared *shakes fist*, you better believe we cared!!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

netherlands going to suck

we were going to suck anyway, but without strootman i think we're utterly doomed to go out

 

[Sciocco]

I hope the USA team loses all three matches and scores maybe only one goal.

Group A:
Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Cameroon
Group B:
Spain, Netherlands, Chile, Australia
Group C:
Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast, Japan
Group D:
Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy
Group E:
Switzerland, Ecuador, France, Honduras
Group F:
Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iran, Nigeria
Group G:
Germany, Portugal, Ghana, United States
Group H:
Belgium, Algeria, Russia, South Korea
Knock-out Rnd. 1:
Brazil v Chile
Colombia v Uruguay
Switzerland v Bosnia
Germany v Russia
Spain v Croatia
Italy v Ivory Coast
Argentina v Ecuador
Belgium v Portugal
Knock-out Rnd. 2:
Brazil v Colombia
Switzerland v Germany
Spain v Italy
Argentina v Belgium
Knock-out Rnd. 3:
Brazil v Germany
Italy v Argentina
3rd Place:
Germany v Argentina
Cup:
Brazil v Italy 1-2

Riots all over Brasil...

Women's World Cup is better, 2015 let's go.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Why do you want them to loose all their matches?

Talking about team USA. I realised just yesterday that more than a fifths of the final selection are German players. Brooks (HA HO HE!), Johnson, Chandler, Jones and Green.

 

[gooner]

Why do you want them to loose all their matches?

Talking about team USA. I realised just yesterday that more than a fifths of the final selection are German players. Brooks (HA HO HE!), Johnson, Chandler, Jones and Green.

I think in some of those cases it's a lot to do with a parent that was in the American military based in Germany.

Danny Williams with Reading and who was with Hoffenheim is another who falls into this category. He's been capped before but hasn't been selected for the World Cup.

 

[gooner]

I don't think Brazil's chances are bad, but this might just be one of the worst squads they had in the last 30-40 years.
They have, expect for Thiago Silva, no absolute Top class player in their respective departments. Neymar of course is very famous, and a world star player in this regard. But he's not yet one of the very best attacking players in the world. Plus they have a good average of class players in midfield, but no absolute stand out guy.

The last two times they won it, they used to have players like Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Romario, Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos, and Rai. Only to name the great ones starting with the letter R.

Now Brazil plays with Fred as Centre Forward, who's good. But that's it. And just imagine he's not fit to play and Jo takes his place... of course Jo is a pretty decent player. But on international top level? No way in hell.

Also: Brazil has never won a World Cup in Brazil.

Coutinho should have been selected.

 

[gooner]

snipped...

I said this before on here. Doping in cycling might be the biggest problem but in football, it's without a doubt match fixing. It's those syndicates in Asia that are all over this like a rash.

There was Fifpro survey done on this and it was very worrying for the game. A lot of it is targeted to players who maybe less well off financially as they are easy targets for the corruptors involved who are trying to do the fix.

It's a topic I've read a lot on. Declan Hill has a brilliant book on this which was released last December and it's more of a study on the issue and the dynamics that it takes to pull it off. It was an eye opener into the subject. He was the guy who helped expose the syndicates and level of match fixing in Asia a few years back in his other book on this called "The Fix". You mention the Brazil v Ghana game and it was him who suspected this of being fixed in that book.

Good interview with Declan Hill here about it.

http://www.spiegel.de/international...m-sure-the-game-was-manipulated-a-575586.html

Brett Forrest has a book out in the last couple of weeks that I haven't got my hands on yet but which has got great reviews for his investigative work on this. This could be a worthwhile read.

 

[del1962]

Think the Ivory Coast could do really well in this World Cup, Toure is such a great player, he has everything and Drogba will want to put on a show.

 

[pmcg76]

As our boys didn't make it, I will be supporting Belgium. Good squad, decent players and I fancy them to make the semis. Might throw a few quid on that to make it more interesting.

 

[del1962]

I will be supporting England of course, but also Nigeria (Shola Ameobi), Ivory Coast (Tiote), Netherlands (Krul) and France(Debuchy and Sissoku)

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

The Guardians Top 100 World Cup Players.

http://www.theguardian.com/football...ballers-of-all-time-interactive?commentpage=9

Whoever their 40 were this time, they should really get new ones mostly. The list in most of it's parts is a shame. But it's still fun to go through it though, and of course to discuss about how stupid most of it is.

 

[ILovecycling]

The Guardians Top 100 World Cup Players.

http://www.theguardian.com/football...ballers-of-all-time-interactive?commentpage=9

Whoever their 40 were this time, they should really get new ones mostly. The list in most of it's parts is a shame. But it's still fun to go through it though, and of course to discuss about how stupid most of it is.

Its ridiculous Ronaldinho didnt make squad.He would be a real help,typical 'brazilian midfielder' and he is good friend of Neymar jr too.

On the other hand,it looks like Scolari wants to play real madrid tactic of quick play with willian and ramires.I like it,better than stupid tiki-taka.
Especially great for neymar,transfer to barca was the worst thing ever happend in his career.(and im saying this as a huge fan of barca,there is nothing better in football for me than barca in pre-crazy(till 2011) Guardiola years).Som el Barça

 

[Descender]

Brazil should take it.

Germany most certainly won't. Honestly, I don't get the Germany hype... it's as if people hadn't learnt from 08, 10 and 12. Every time people kept talking as if Germany was going to win it all, and every time it became very clear they are not at the level of other teams. They lost clearly every time, and this year they don't have a better team than in those tournaments...

 

[alspacka]

Brazil should take it.

Germany most certainly won't. Honestly, I don't get the Germany hype... it's as if people hadn't learnt from 08, 10 and 12. Every time people kept talking as if Germany was going to win it all, and every time it became very clear they are not at the level of other teams. They lost clearly every time, and this year they don't have a better team than in those tournaments...

Germany would be amazing if they had a decent centre forward who isn't 36.

 

[alspacka]

I make Argentina favourites if Messi can get his **** together.

Got a few £ of Italy at 28/1 and Benzema top scorer @40 (check out France's group)

 

[hfer07]

I make Argentina favourites if Messi can get his **** together.

Got a few £ of Italy at 28/1 and Benzema top scorer @40 (check out France's group)

I'm just trying to picture Argentina- the eternal nemesis of Brazil since Football was created - in fact winning the world cup in Brazil....

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Brazil should take it.

Germany most certainly won't. Honestly, I don't get the Germany hype... it's as if people hadn't learnt from 08, 10 and 12. Every time people kept talking as if Germany was going to win it all, and every time it became very clear they are not at the level of other teams. They lost clearly every time, and this year they don't have a better team than in those tournaments...

That's just not true. Especially before the 2010 World Cup people were extremely skeptical and in typical German manner no one believed they'd get further than the round of last 16. The only tournament which they were supposed to win it was 2012, and they got kicked out in the semis, which usually wouldn't be a disaster.

But what's a German without his hate?
I've got mine too, but I decided to simply hate BWL Studenten.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

I make Argentina favourites if Messi can get his **** together.

Got a few £ of Italy at 28/1 and Benzema top scorer @40 (check out France's group)

I think Argentinas defense is, again, very suspect. No team with serious defensive flaws has ever won the WC. I don't know if they can compensate for the lack of quality at the back as a team, especially as the focus will be the offense I guess.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

That's just not true. Especially before the 2010 World Cup people were extremely skeptical and in typical German manner no one believed they'd get further than the round of last 16. The only tournament which they were supposed to win it was 2012, and they got kicked out in the semis, which usually wouldn't be a disaster.

But what's a German without his hate?
I've got mine too, but I decided to simply hate BWL Studenten.

Isn't the current German squad about the same as 2012, but simply 2 years more experienced?

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Isn't the current German squad about the same as 2012, but simply 2 years more experienced?

Well not completly. Sadly Gündogan and the Benders didn't make it. But players who weren't at the core of the team are now regular starters like Hummels, Boateng (as a CB), Götze, Reus, Schürrle, Kroos (though he was very close in 2012) Draxler (even though he season has been bad and he wasn't a part of the 2012 team) Schmelzer (he might not make it cause he was injured to much). Plus there are new ones which haven't been in the squad for years (Großkreutz) or are really new to the team. Ginter, Mustafi, Kramer, Volland, Durm (who will be CF Nr. 2 behind Klose). Also Poldi has lost his place to the new Wingers and is now mostly sidelined.

But yeah, most of them got 2 years older, won silverware and or made it to the CL Final (again). Half of the team will still be 25 years old or even younger.

 

[alspacka]

I think Argentinas defense is, again, very suspect. No team with serious defensive flaws has ever won the WC. I don't know if they can compensate for the lack of quality at the back as a team, especially as the focus will be the offense I guess.

This year though, I'm not sure any of the favourites have a particularly great defense. And Argentina's is not so bad, I can't speak for the guys who play in South America but Garay and Zabaleta are quality.
Plus they'll have a solid base in front of them with Mascherano and Gago (if he's fit).

And then - Messi, Aguero, Di Maria, Higuain

 

[ILovecycling]

Its a irony,but I think that one of the best 'defense' has Brasil.I refer to player not defending ability of course
Thiago Silva,Alves,Marcelo,Luiz,Rafinha,Dante etc. thats quite impressive

 

[del1962]

Do we call Luiz a defender?