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2014 FIFA World Cup general discussion thread

STRYKIE

Are ya' ready for MK11 kids?!
I got just a few words for yall........: USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA!!!!! #YEEAAPPPPPP
Fun fact: Out of the 5 goalkeepers that have scored a goal in the EPL, 3 of them were raised in North America. You'll need that kind of luck to get through your group :16Bit
 

Nephrite

#Fujin4MK12BaseRoster
Well I'm Croatian so I'm obviously cheering for my country. Football/soccer is by far the most popular sport over here (like in most other European countries). Croatia became an independent country in the 90s and debuted at the 1998 FIFA World Cup where we finished 3rd (memorable wins over Germany 3-0 in the QF and 2-1 over Holland in the bronze medal match) and the whole country went mad.

We have some very high quality players, with Luka Modric (won UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid this year) being the biggest and Ivan Rakitic being in the form of his life (won UEFA Europa League this year with Sevilla, just recently bought by FC Barcelona). Unfortunately we won't have our best attacker, Mario Mandzukic (Bayern Munich), for the first match, but I still think we can make a match out of it, Brazil could be very nervous since its their first match in front of the home crowd.

Other than my country, I'm always supportive of Portugal, Uruguay and Argentina and I'm always curious who does better in the Europe vs South America duels. African teams are also interesting as they usually have some really good players, but most of the times they lack discipline.

My predictions on who will advance:

Group A: Brazil and Croatia (Croatia-Mexico-Cameroon will be a close battle for 2nd, but I do believe CRO has slight advantage over the other two)

Group B: Spain and Holland (A bit predictable, Chile will be tough to beat though)

Group C: Greece and Ivory Coast (Can't see Japan passing and I do think Colombia will miss Falcao)

Group D: Uruguay and Italy (Italy and England are the big guns here, but URU finished 4th 4 years ago and they have the quality and continental advantage going for them and I see them going through at the cost of ITA or ENG, decided to eliminate ENG).

Group E: France and Ecuador (honestly one of the least interesting groups to me, Switzerland or Ecuador to battle it out for the 2nd place)

Group F: Argentina and Nigeria (ARG the obvious pick, would love to see Bosnia & Herzegovina pass the group in their WC debut, but I'm giving slight advantage to Nigeria)

Group G: Germany and Portugal (The obvious picks, watch out for Ghana though)

Group H: Belgium and Algeria (I expect Belgium to finish first and I'm going with Algeria as a surprise second over Russia and Korea)


EDIT: URU finished 4th 4 years ago, not 3rd (GER was 3rd). Sorry.
 
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RiBBz22

TYM's Confirmed Prophet/Time-Traveler
I am rooting hard for USA, but realistically I would love to see the Netherlands get their revenge.
 

OBS|KH Rattlehead

Accessibility consultant for Mortal Kombat 1.
Referring to U.S. though, Clint Dempsie is actually a really badass player, it just that his skills don't transfer once he plays for the national team. Tim Howard though! He is an underrated goal keeper. Agree with others saying Germany and Portugal will win in the first round with Germany first and Portugal as the runner up.
 
Well I'm Croatian so I'm obviously cheering for my country. Football/soccer is by far the most popular sport over here (like in most other European countries). Croatia became an independent country in the 90s and debuted at the 1998 FIFA World Cup where we finished 3rd (memorable wins over Germany 3-0 in the QF and 2-1 over Holland in the bronze medal match) and the whole country went mad.

We have some very high quality players, with Luka Modric (won UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid this year) being the biggest and Ivan Rakitic being in the form of his life (won UEFA Europa League this year with Sevilla, just recently bought by FC Barcelona). Unfortunately we won't have our best attacker, Mario Mandzukic (Bayern Munich), for the first match, but I still think we can make a match out of it, Brazil could be very nervous since its their first match in front of the home crowd.

Other than my country, I'm always supportive of Portugal, Uruguay and Argentina and I'm always curious who does better in the Europe vs South America duels. African teams are also interesting as they usually have some really good players, but most of the times they lack discipline.

My predictions on who will advance:

Group A: Brazil and Croatia (Croatia-Mexico-Cameroon will be a close battle for 2nd, but I do believe CRO has slight advantage over the other two)

Group B: Spain and Holland (A bit predictable, Chile will be tough to beat though)

Group C: Greece and Ivory Coast (Can't see Japan passing and I do think Colombia will miss Falcao)

Group D: Uruguay and Italy (Italy and England are the big guns here, but URU finished 3rd 4 years ago and they have the quality and continental advantage going for them and I see them going through at the cost of ITA or ENG, decided to eliminate ENG).

Group E: France and Ecuador (honestly one of the least interesting groups to me, Switzerland or Ecuador to battle it out for the 2nd place)

Group F: Argentina and Nigeria (ARG the obvious pick, would love to see Bosnia & Herzegovina pass the group in their WC debut, but I'm giving slight advantage to Nigeria)

Group G: Germany and Portugal (The obvious picks, watch out for Ghana though)

Group H: Belgium and Algeria (I expect Belgium to finish first and I'm going with Algeria as a surprise second over Russia and Korea)
Very great predictions. I would only put colombia over the ivory coast, even though they are missing their star player, he can't do it all by himself. I think their other strikers will step it up to make it out as the runner up in their group.

Portugal is a very good team. 4 years ago they got eliminated early by spain who won the entire thing. (just like when I get double eliminated by jupiter when he fucks up and goes into the losers bracket, just to win the whole tournament...fuck yeah I feels a way!) If Portugal had a better bracket, they would have gotten alot farther. Even in the world cup there is BRACKETOLOGY!
 

DLA

Noob
Referring to U.S. though, Clint Dempsie is actually a really badass player, it just that his skills don't transfer once he plays for the national team. Tim Howard though! He is an underrated goal keeper. Agree with others saying Germany and Portugal will win in the first round with Germany first and Portugal as the runner up.
Tim Howard is a great goal keeper, however i think Dempsey is a bit past his best now.
 
I've been in the US for most of my life and I love my country, but when it comes to soccer, I'm still 100% Mexican.
The group they're in is basically 3 teams that are at the same level and Brazil. Brazil is definitely taking the first place from that group.
 

NickDaGreek1983

Oh, my days !
All of you predict Colombia and Ivory Coast advancing on group C? You are underestimating Greece. Greece has very strong defense that can easily keep a clean sheet against very strong opponents. And if Kostas Mitroglou is on form, he can score at any time from nowhere. I see Greece advancing one way on another.
...... but Greece just doesnt have the firepower imo to advance..
Colombia's first match is against greece, who has great defense, without colombias star striker, I don't see better scenario for them besides a tie game at 0-0

Guys, I'm going to be as honest and objective as anyone can be about Greece's football skills/level...

On a club level Olympiakos is just the one team that can be a (most times) tough or even (sometimes) formidable opponent in Champion's League. And this is in the last decade or so...

On a national level, the Greek team always had 3 or 4 quality players (mostly midfielders) which NEVER played the same as they did with their respected clubs.
Those last 4 years Kostas Mitroglou has made the difference for both the national team and Olympiakos but nevertheless , Greece continues to play it lame and defensive which will always make for a boring, "break my defense if you can" (and most times they do break) game .

Don't let that 2004 European championship fool you guys... Out of the 32 teams that compete in 2014 World Cup, GR is probably at the bottom 6 or bottom 8 at best.

I'm predicting 3rd place (group) with lots of low scores.
I don't follow the other teams (Ivory Coast, Japan or Colombia) but if there were tiers like in fighting games, Greece would probably be sth like Baraka. The group is generally speaking a low tier group as well...
 
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Guys, I'm going to be as honest and objective as anyone can be about Greece's football skills/level...

On a club level Olympiakos is just the one team that can be a (most times) tough or even (sometimes) formidable opponent in Champion's League. And this is in the last decade or so...

On a national level, the Greek team always had 3 or 4 quality players (mostly midfielders) which NEVER played the same as they did with their respected clubs.
Those last 4 years Kostas Mitroglou has made the difference for both the national team and Olympiakos but nevertheless , Greece continues to play it lame and defensive which will always make for a boring, "break my defense if you can" (and most times they do break) game .

Don't let that 2004 European championship fool you guys... Out of the 32 teams that compete in 2014 World Cup, GR is probably at the bottom 6 or bottom 8 at best.

I'm predicting 3rd place with lot's of low scores
We're both down players, lol
 
Fun fact: Out of the 5 goalkeepers that have scored a goal in the EPL, 3 of them were raised in North America. You'll need that kind of luck to get through your group :16Bit
Man they can do it, they just have to give it their all. We will need a full scale effort, especially vs germany bcuz they OP tho haha.

As much and as hard as I will be routing for USA, they're still going to get bodied. They're the joker player of this world cup, if they get a win, we'll be surprised, but they're going to get FUCKED!
Nah they'll get out, but hopefully they don't get bopped bcuz that'd suck :(
@OBS|KH Rattlehead haha man give em some love :p