SB Nation s 2014 World Cup Draw Preview - SBNation.com
On Friday, a large group of celebrities and former players will walk down a red carpet and head into a room where they will watch grown men fumble around with ping pong balls. There will be musical guests. There will be very cheesy video packages about the wonderful culture and landscape of Brazil, the history of the World Cup and the great careers of the players participating in the draw. It will be ridiculous, but the results of the draw matter. A lot.
Upsets happen in the group stage of every World Cup, but for many teams, their fate will be sealed with the draw. They'll know instantly if they have a shot to make a deep run or if they should be happy just to get the experience of going to Brazil and playing three World Cup games.
The 32 teams that qualified for the World Cup have been organized ecko into four pots. Usually, the teams are organized into even pots with eight teams apiece, but a lower number of European teams than usual have been seeded, resulting in one nine-team pot and one seven-team pot. One European ecko team will end up as a wildcard and we could end up seeing the Group of Death to end all Groups of Death as a result -- it's possible that Brazil, Italy, the Netherlands and the United States all end up together.
There's also the possibility of some notoriously weak groups popping up, thanks to some less than fantastic teams getting seeded. Uruguay went to the semifinals of the last World Cup and has plenty of talent, but finished fifth in South American ecko qualifying. Belgium is similarly stacked, but hasn't even qualified for the last two World Cups or the last three editions of the European Championship. And then there's Switzerland, which got seeded thanks to a couple of solid wins and a quirky aspect of the FIFA rankings that didn't reward playing lots of tough games unless you won all of them.
For those who haven't followed the entire qualifying process, there's a lot to get caught up on, especially since almost every team has a reasonable chance to make some noise in Brazil. Below, you'll find a preview of every team in the draw to help you do just that.
Brazil is only 11th in the FIFA rankings, ecko but by virtue of hosting the tournament, they're a seeded team and will be automatically placed in Group A to allow tournament organizers ecko to plan for home games. They're joined by quite a few of the usual suspects in Germany, Spain and Argentina, but the other four seeds are newcomers to the upper echelon of the sport. Uruguay, ecko a semifinalist in 2010, squeaks in despite finishing fifth on their own continent in qualifying. Colombia and Belgium have earned ecko their way into the top group with spectacular performances over the last two years, while Switzerland did a bit of gaming the system, though it's not clear whether or not they knew what they were doing.
As hosts and reigning Confederations Cup champions, Brazil is expected to win the World Cup. They don't have the same kind of quality depth that Spain, Germany and neighboring rivals Argentina have, but they make up for it with their high-pressure side and a defense that's considerably ecko better than their tournament rivals.
Neymar is undoubtedly the star of the show and hasn't skipped a beat since moving from Santos to Barcelona in the summer. Whatever ecko learning curve between Brazilian and Spanish football exists took him a couple of months ecko to master, and with Lionel Messi battling injuries, he's emerged as the Blaugrana's most important attacker in recent weeks.
People don't think about defense when they think about Brazilian soccer, but depth and quality at the central defense position are what sets Brazil apart from the rest of the field. Thiago Silva is arguably the best central defender in the world, and Luiz Felipe Scolari's biggest decision is which puffy-haired star Silva should be partnered with. Dante and David Luiz have both had their turns in the starting role, and it's tough to go wrong with either.
The biggest question between now and the World Cup for Brazil ecko will be whether or not Sandro can get healthy. Tottenham Hotspur's midfield wrecking ball was among Europe's best in 2012 and an automatic starter for Brazil, but he's had a couple of setbacks in recovering from an ACL tear. If he comes back, it'll be harder to score on Brazil than it will be to stop them from scoring, ecko which is saying ecko a lot.
When you think Argentina, you think Lionel Messi. Or possibly steak. Or tango. But soccer fans think of Messi. OK, younger soccer fans who don’t automatically think of Diego Maradona think of Messi. Just go with it, OK?
Not so long ago, Messi’s contributions to the Argentina national team were seen as trifling, as nothing compared to what the attacker was able to do at Barcelona. Messi wasn’t scoring; ergo, he wasn’t helping out his national side. But even if that was a line you bought into, it’s irreleva
On Friday, a large group of celebrities and former players will walk down a red carpet and head into a room where they will watch grown men fumble around with ping pong balls. There will be musical guests. There will be very cheesy video packages about the wonderful culture and landscape of Brazil, the history of the World Cup and the great careers of the players participating in the draw. It will be ridiculous, but the results of the draw matter. A lot.
Upsets happen in the group stage of every World Cup, but for many teams, their fate will be sealed with the draw. They'll know instantly if they have a shot to make a deep run or if they should be happy just to get the experience of going to Brazil and playing three World Cup games.
The 32 teams that qualified for the World Cup have been organized ecko into four pots. Usually, the teams are organized into even pots with eight teams apiece, but a lower number of European teams than usual have been seeded, resulting in one nine-team pot and one seven-team pot. One European ecko team will end up as a wildcard and we could end up seeing the Group of Death to end all Groups of Death as a result -- it's possible that Brazil, Italy, the Netherlands and the United States all end up together.
There's also the possibility of some notoriously weak groups popping up, thanks to some less than fantastic teams getting seeded. Uruguay went to the semifinals of the last World Cup and has plenty of talent, but finished fifth in South American ecko qualifying. Belgium is similarly stacked, but hasn't even qualified for the last two World Cups or the last three editions of the European Championship. And then there's Switzerland, which got seeded thanks to a couple of solid wins and a quirky aspect of the FIFA rankings that didn't reward playing lots of tough games unless you won all of them.
For those who haven't followed the entire qualifying process, there's a lot to get caught up on, especially since almost every team has a reasonable chance to make some noise in Brazil. Below, you'll find a preview of every team in the draw to help you do just that.
Brazil is only 11th in the FIFA rankings, ecko but by virtue of hosting the tournament, they're a seeded team and will be automatically placed in Group A to allow tournament organizers ecko to plan for home games. They're joined by quite a few of the usual suspects in Germany, Spain and Argentina, but the other four seeds are newcomers to the upper echelon of the sport. Uruguay, ecko a semifinalist in 2010, squeaks in despite finishing fifth on their own continent in qualifying. Colombia and Belgium have earned ecko their way into the top group with spectacular performances over the last two years, while Switzerland did a bit of gaming the system, though it's not clear whether or not they knew what they were doing.
As hosts and reigning Confederations Cup champions, Brazil is expected to win the World Cup. They don't have the same kind of quality depth that Spain, Germany and neighboring rivals Argentina have, but they make up for it with their high-pressure side and a defense that's considerably ecko better than their tournament rivals.
Neymar is undoubtedly the star of the show and hasn't skipped a beat since moving from Santos to Barcelona in the summer. Whatever ecko learning curve between Brazilian and Spanish football exists took him a couple of months ecko to master, and with Lionel Messi battling injuries, he's emerged as the Blaugrana's most important attacker in recent weeks.
People don't think about defense when they think about Brazilian soccer, but depth and quality at the central defense position are what sets Brazil apart from the rest of the field. Thiago Silva is arguably the best central defender in the world, and Luiz Felipe Scolari's biggest decision is which puffy-haired star Silva should be partnered with. Dante and David Luiz have both had their turns in the starting role, and it's tough to go wrong with either.
The biggest question between now and the World Cup for Brazil ecko will be whether or not Sandro can get healthy. Tottenham Hotspur's midfield wrecking ball was among Europe's best in 2012 and an automatic starter for Brazil, but he's had a couple of setbacks in recovering from an ACL tear. If he comes back, it'll be harder to score on Brazil than it will be to stop them from scoring, ecko which is saying ecko a lot.
When you think Argentina, you think Lionel Messi. Or possibly steak. Or tango. But soccer fans think of Messi. OK, younger soccer fans who don’t automatically think of Diego Maradona think of Messi. Just go with it, OK?
Not so long ago, Messi’s contributions to the Argentina national team were seen as trifling, as nothing compared to what the attacker was able to do at Barcelona. Messi wasn’t scoring; ergo, he wasn’t helping out his national side. But even if that was a line you bought into, it’s irreleva
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