Brazil 2014

[Diego_Sideburns]

...1970 was in North America but Brazil won every game that year....

 

In 1970 England’s squad was better than that which won the World Cup. I still haven’t got over Alf Ramsey’s substitution of Bobby Charlton in the quarter-final, when 2-0 up against West Germany, to save him for the semi.

 

If England had taken a couple of the chances created against Brazil in the group stage, a quarter final place against Peru may have been to England’s advantage, but that’s just one of many ifs where the England team is concerned.

 

Having said that, on the plus side we had the semi-final between Italy and West Germany with five goals scored in extra time, classified as the ‘Game of the Century’ and commemorated by a monument at the Aztec Stadium.

[davegtt]

 

 

Italy did only beat us on penalties in the Euros, but how they only beat us on penalties god only knows. They had 63% of possession, 31 shots, 18 on target. We had 8 shots, 4 on target. They should have beaten us comfortably inside the 90 minutes.

OK thats fine.Therefore I shall refer back to my previous post about what James Milner said... "Even when we are :censored:, are are hard to beat" That means we always have a chance.

[dave_ragg1984]

OK thats fine.Therefore I shall refer back to my previous post about what James Milner said... "Even when we are :censored:, are are hard to beat, but the good teams always find a way" That means we always have a chance.

Fixed James Milner's quote for you. And him.

[alex_balls]

FFS stupid internet. typed out quite a detailed response on all the teams in S.A who failed to beat Europeans in all them years listed above. Notably Chile on home soil losing to the W.Germans in 1962, whilst we were out there we also beat the Argies that year.

 

Also in 1930 Yugoslavia beats both Brazil and Bolivia (Who were practically playing at home ;) ) and Romania gave Peru a lesson, as did the USA to Paraguay.

 

1950 on home soil Brazil failed to beat Switzerland and we beat Chile, Paraguay lost to USA and drew with Sweden.

 

1970 was in North America but Brazil won every game that year.

 

1978 in Argentina, Italy beat them in the group stages 1-0, Argentina who won it was still taken to extra time by Holland. Brazil only got a draw from Sweden and Spain. Holland drew with Peru, who also got knocked out of the group stages in a 1-0 defeat to Poland.

 

Again, 1986 was in N.America again but Argentina was held to a draw by Italy again.

 

1994 in N.A - Brazil only drew with Sweden in the group stages although notably the argies got spanked by Bulgaria and knocked out by Romania ;) but other than Brazil having to win the final on penalties they didnt lose a game either.

 

2002 - Brazil cruised this WC.

 

BUT, would you say any of the South Americans would say because the tournament is in Europe they dont expect to beat any of us lot?

 

1934 Italy - won by Italy

1938 France - won by Italy

1954 Switzerland - won by W.Germany

1958 Sweden - won by Brazil

1966 England - won by England

1974 W.Germany - won by W.Germany

1982 Spain - won by Italy

1990 Italy - won by W.Germany

1998 France - won by France

2006 Germany - won by Italy.

 

So there has only been one instance that a S.A team have won it in Europe but we have held 2 more WC's than anywhere else in the world. I dont think theres much of an arguement in this.

 

That's fantastic, cheers for that. The more I think about it, the more I want to be in a group with a Colombia or Uruguay, will make it much more interesting. And let's see how Cahill and Jagielka (Who's partnership is blossoming) get on against Falcao or Cavani. They play Suarez enough in the prem, who is arguably the same as the afore mentioned two, whey couldn't they perfom again them also, would silence a few of the critics, anyway as long as we don't re-call John Poison Terry i'll be happy...

[BP1960]

You look at the World Rankings and you see Uruguay in the top 8, I wouldn't be scared of playing them. Likewise, in 2002 we weren't seeded, the Argies were, we beat them and both us and Sweden went through. I don't really care for the seeds, again if you look at 2012, we had such a tough group in France, Sweden and Ukraine it's hard to say who were the seeds, and guess what we won the group. It didn't really help us.

 

I'm looking forward to drawing the Argies or Colombia or Belgium as the seeds and then Burkina Faso and Honduras.

[BP1960]

I expect Belgium to reach the semis.

[rudemedic]

I expect Belgium to reach the semis.

Depends on their draw, I'd expect them to reach the Quarters and possibly reach the semis or be a better side than someone who does.

[Mullet]

Expect Japan to do well. They've got a good number of decent players in the Bundesliga and will be a surprise force in the competition. They were unlucky in the Confederations Cup, challenging some top teams in very tight games that they were unfortunate to lose.

 

I have a feeling Belgium will be the England of Brazil i.e. be hyped about because they have a lot of famous players in the Premier League then flatter to deceive. That said, although this tournament could be too early for them I wouldn't be shocked if in another 5 years time they were a proper contender. Watch them win it now I said that...

[jimsleftfoot]

 

That's fantastic, cheers for that. The more I think about it, the more I want to be in a group with a Colombia or Uruguay, will make it much more interesting. And let's see how Cahill and Jagielka (Who's partnership is blossoming) get on against Falcao or Cavani. They play Suarez enough in the prem, who is arguably the same as the afore mentioned two, whey couldn't they perfom again them also, would silence a few of the critics, anyway as long as we don't re-call John Poison Terry i'll be happy...

 

I went to the GB V Uruguay game in the Olympics and Cavani wasn't up to much. Though on his day he's alright ;)

[alex_balls]

Expect Japan to do well. They've got a good number of decent players in the Bundesliga and will be a surprise force in the competition. They were unlucky in the Confederations Cup, challenging some top teams in very tight games that they were unfortunate to lose.

 

I have a feeling Belgium will be the England of Brazil i.e. be hyped about because they have a lot of famous players in the Premier League then flatter to deceive. That said, although this tournament could be too early for them I wouldn't be shocked if in another 5 years time they were a proper contender. Watch them win it now I said that...

 

 

 

I went to the GB V Uruguay game in the Olympics and Cavani wasn't up to much. Though on his day he's alright ;)

 

Was gonna say the same about Belgium being compared to Englands "Golden Generation", they have some very good players but they're not world class, i mean come on the two forwards play for Villa and Everton respectively.

 

Cavani is tripe come to think about it.

[Mullet]

Expect Japan to do well. They've got a good number of decent players in the Bundesliga and will be a surprise force in the competition. They were unlucky in the Confederations Cup, challenging some top teams in very tight games that they were unfortunate to lose.

 

I have a feeling Belgium will be the England of Brazil i.e. be hyped about because they have a lot of famous players in the Premier League then flatter to deceive. That said, although this tournament could be too early for them I wouldn't be shocked if in another 5 years time they were a proper contender. Watch them win it now I said that...

 

Japan 3-2 Belgium

 

[alex_balls]

 

 

 

Was gonna say the same about Belgium being compared to Englands "Golden Generation", they have some very good players but they're not world class, i mean come on the two forwards play for Villa and Everton respectively.

 

Cavani is tripe come to think about it.

 

 

 

Japan 3-2 Belgium

 

 

Belgium have been shown for what they are this week, over hyped, they have a decent colelction of players, but none of them are elite, Hazard is the nearest they've got to being decent. Lukaku will be a good player but at end of the day their forward line consists of an Everton and a Villa player, ot exactly Aguero, Lavezzi, Messi, Higuain is it.

 

Last 16 at best for me.

[deyres42]

Belgium's current price to win it is a sick joke, on a par with ours - think they were 200/250-1 straight after the 2010 World Cup which was probably nearer the mark.

 

The bet for me has to be South America to be the winning continent, got Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and maybe Uruguay running for you.

[alex_balls]

After seeing Spain labour against Equitorial Guinea and then losing to South Africa last night, I'm wondering whats happened to them? Germany look good but how will their high powered fast fooball cope in the Amazon heat and humidity?

 

That leaves for me Argies or Brazil. Uruguay are garbage apart from Suarez, Colombia are garbage but for Falcao. Argies are class going forward but have no defence.

 

So despite them not being perfect, especially defensively, i'm gonna plump for Neymar or Fred (depending if he gets back in) as top scorer and Brazil to win double.

[Forte_Baby]

Expect Japan to do well. They've got a good number of decent players in the Bundesliga and will be a surprise force in the competition. They were unlucky in the Confederations Cup, challenging some top teams in very tight games that they were unfortunate to lose.

 

I have a feeling Belgium will be the England of Brazil i.e. be hyped about because they have a lot of famous players in the Premier League then flatter to deceive. That said, although this tournament could be too early for them I wouldn't be shocked if in another 5 years time they were a proper contender. Watch them win it now I said that...

Said for last two years Japan like Belgium seem to have hit there golden generation fresh number if players now paying there top trade in Europe.

[pukka]

Argentina to win it for me.

 

Ze Germans and Italy to go close.

[alex_balls]

Argentina to win, Aguero top bagger double??????

[Monty Burns]

 

 

 

Belgium have been shown for what they are this week, over hyped, they have a decent colelction of players, but none of them are elite, Hazard is the nearest they've got to being decent. Lukaku will be a good player but at end of the day their forward line consists of an Everton and a Villa player, ot exactly Aguero, Lavezzi, Messi, Higuain is it.

 

Last 16 at best for me.

 

Disagree. Japan are class.

[Oafc88]

England to be drawn in a group with Egypt (they're there well.... because), Mexico and Argentina.

 

Egypt game to be a boring 0-0 draw.

 

Get dicked off Mexico 4-0.

 

Beat the Argies 1-0 to sneak through an gallantly go out in the semis to Brazil.

 

All done while our captain has been arrested for fighting alongside England fans against local police and Assistant manager sacked after 2nd game for altercation with manager.

 

Oh and i vote the usual England official song to be sung by the players and Atomic Kitten to the tune of "Its on me 'ed son, not off me 'ed son!!"

[alex_balls]

 

Disagree. Japan are class.

 

Really??? Got to admit, this is news to me, I thought they were at their usual standard of,..... well, average, but i'm ignorant to Asian football some what.

 

Just had a quick look at their results from this year. Lost all 3 games at the confeds, lost to Serbia and Belarus recently and also lost to Bulgaria and Jordan. Their draw with Holland and victory against Belgium are impressive though.

 

Looking at their squad, they do have some good players such as Honda and Kagawa, and Nagatomo at Inter. But surely a group stage exit awaits them*

 

*Granted, they may yet get a favourable draw next week, BUT the way FIFA and their magic balls work, it looks as though a number of group of deaths could arise.

[jsslatic]

That draw coupled with the recent internationals should severely limit any expectations but I still think we should scrape through the group and given the relative lack of quality in Group C we should be eyeing the usual QF exit.

 

That is of course if we're allowed in Manaus.

[Matt]

Just the three England games then...

[rudemedic]

If the draw and the venues remain the same, if you are going please don't forget your Malaria prophylaxis, and your vaccinations, especially Yellow Fever, for the opening game. We can ill afford to lose fans through stupidity

[alex_balls]

Absolutely delighted, the last World Cup was such a snore fest from an England fans' POV, USA was poor, Algeria awful and Slovenia horrendously nerve racking, and at least two of those sides were poor.

 

This year I wanted a tough group, if we're gonna struggle, id rather enjoy playing someone decent, Italy in our opening game or a Slovenia???

 

Italy will probably be a bore fest 0-0, in the heat and humidy, both sides will probably cancel themselves out.

 

Uruguay will be tough, but I really wanted to play these, Suarez is awesome, but Jagielka faces this guy regularly in the Prem, whether he can stop him is another matter, but he'd be more prepared than if he was facing a Falcao or Higuain. Cahill has a few years internationals and Champions League appearances behind him now, so should relish the challenge of facing (over-rated) Cavani, again Roy will probably play spoiling tactics in this game, and it'll be another 0-0 or 1-1, it would be really refreshing if he went for it like he did against Poland, but thats another story.

 

And the Rich Coast, the easiest on paper but perversely the team England will struggle most against, having said that if we get the two draws in the first games and then follow that up with beating Rich Coast then i'm sure that'd be enough to qualify, especially if there is a winner from the Uruguay/Italy fixture.

 

Rolling into the jungle for the opening fixture isn't desirable, but the other two games are in the cooler climate and both within an hour's flight of our Rio base, meaning the travel isnt ridiculous. For the Amazon fixture vs Italy, I imagine we'll fly straight in from our pre tournament training camp in Miami, providing there are adequate training facilities in Manaus, and acclimatise for a couple of days prior to the game. Then onto Rio for the rest of the group.

 

If we do manage to get through to the next round, whether that's by finishing 1st or second, we are likely to face the Ivory Coast or Colombia, both would be tough but are winnable, if we overcame that we would presumably face Brazil or Spain in the quarter's where we would probably say good night.

 

Either way, it's going to be an enjoyable World Cup, regardless of what England do, if we do get knocked out in the group stage, at least we would have had a couple of exciting fixtures for a change, we can then go on and enjoy what could be the most spectacular final ever, Brazil v Argentina in the Maracana, that would be awesome.

[nzlatic]

I'm pretty sure this is an accurate stat... Since 1966 the only "top" nation we've beaten in a knockout game of any tournament (ie final group game or knockout stages) is Spain in 96. And that was on pens after a :censored: 0-0. And they were :censored: then anyway.

 

Just highlights how little we've achieved in our history.

 

Saying that though, this draw has got me excited. Can't wait for the tournament now, should be a belter. Play some of the young uns Roy and let em go for it.