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World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?
RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

StrumSolo > 13/10/2013, 13:03

(12/10/2013, 23:13)Timm24 Wrote: imagine if spain win - that would make them boss of all nations in football of all time - 4 tournaments with the same (roughly) generation of players.

Big ask though. Brazil or Argentina for me.

If any European side can win it over there then a massive well done to them, even if its the Germans.
RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

rustee1 > 15/10/2013, 23:17

now that england have made it after a couple of exciting performances do you think the expectations will rise back to the silly levels they were at a few years ago?
RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

StrumSolo > 16/10/2013, 10:19

(15/10/2013, 23:17)rustee1 Wrote: now that england have made it after a couple of exciting performances do you think the expectations will rise back to the silly levels they were at a few years ago?

I think expectations will be realistic prior to the tournament, but if we make it past the 2nd round it'll be 'time to believe'. Then we'll go out on pens in the quarters.

So, a few more teams have booked their place after the final round of qualifiers. From Europe, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, England, Spain, Russia and Bosnia-Hercegovina all go through as group winners, which means runners-up Croatia, Sweden, Romania, Iceland, Portugal, Greece, Ukraine and France will have to negotiate a play-off. Denmark finished 2nd in Group B, but miss out after only gaining 16 points. Some decent looking teams there, I'm glad England don't have to worry about it!

In the South American section, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Chile have all qualified automatically alongside hosts Brazil. Uruguay finished 5th in the group so will have to negotiate a play-off against Jordan.

Costa Rica, Honduras and the USA are all safely through the North American qualifying. Mexico will have to get past Oceania winners New Zealand in November before making any plans for next summer.

In Asia, Australia, Iran, Japan and South Korea all booked their places a while ago, so it's just Jordan's fate left to be decided.

They're in to the play-off stage in Africa. Here are the results from the first legs:
Burkina Faso 3-2 Algeria
Ivory Coast 3-1 Senegal
Ethopia 1-2 Nigeria
Tunisia 0-0 Cameroon
Ghana 6-1 Egypt
You'd have to fancy Ghana I suppose but it's still all to play for elsewhere. The second legs are in November with the winner of each tie progressing to the finals.

All starting to get a bit real now isn't it?
RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

rustee1 > 16/10/2013, 21:02

looking at some of those teams in the play off england really didn't want to be in it, although i'm sure fifa wiill seed it to help the bigger nations. i think jordan might need some luck to get through.
RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

StrumSolo > 17/10/2013, 10:11

(16/10/2013, 21:02)rustee1 Wrote: looking at some of those teams in the play off england really didn't want to be in it, although i'm sure fifa wiill seed it to help the bigger nations. i think jordan might need some luck to get through.

Yeah I suspect it would have been Romania, Sweden, Iceland or Greece for us. All winnable, but nice to not have to worry about it!
RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

StrumSolo > 21/10/2013, 13:21

The draw's just been made for the European play-offs. France were unseeded, so there was a possibility of them facing Portugal, which would have been nice.

Didn't happen though, here are the ties:

Portugal v Sweden
Ukraine v France
Greece v Romania
Iceland v Croatia

First legs 15th November, seconds on the 19th.

Whoop!
RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

StrumSolo > 20/11/2013, 10:53

So the European play-offs are done, with France, Croatia, Greece and Portugal progressing, and Mexico booked their spot this morning with a 9-3 aggregate win over New Zealand.

The only one yet to be resolved is Uruguay v Jordan who play tonight. Though with the South Americans going in to their home leg 5-0 up, it's probably safe to say they're through...

So here's the full list of teams that'll be taking part in Brazil next summer:

Africa: Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria.

Asia: Australia, Iran, Japan, South Korea.

Europe: Belgium, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, England, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, Spain, France, Portugal.

North America: Costa Rica, Honduras, United States, Mexico.

South America: Argentina, Brazil (hosts), Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Uruguay.

The groups will be drawn on December 3rd.

Who's going to win it then?
RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

willis52 > 21/11/2013, 20:20

For me it's hard to look past Brazil. They're maybe not as good as they have been in the past, but with home advantage and European teams traditionally not doing so well in South America, I'd have to back them.

I expect all the South American teams to make a decent showing, and if Argentina can get organised and get Messi playing like he does for Barca then they'd have to be serious contenders. Spain should do well too, and Belgium have a very good young team but I think it's too early for them to be serious contenders. They could be a real force by 2018 though.
RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

carl1984 > 21/11/2013, 20:36

It's more than likely going to be a South American side, Argentina on paper have every chance if Messi can step up on the international stage, perhaps Ronaldo beating him to the ballon d'or might motivate him to do so
RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

StrumSolo > 22/11/2013, 15:05

It's never properly clicked for him on the international stage though has it? If it does then obviously Argentina will be a force, but if it was that easy you'd imagine it'd have happened by now.

Brazil for me too. Not their greatest ever side but they looked pretty handy against Spain in the Confederations earlier this year.
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World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?

RE: World Cup 2014: Who's made it (so far)?