World Cup 2014

[Socionics Is A Cult]

I wasn't sure whether to put this in the Art, Beauty, or Religion section, so I just put it in Anything Goes.

Until the tournament hype throughout the known televised world begins in earnest, post your predictions and declare your affinities here!

I will supporting England in a lukewarm fashion until they get knocked out, as well as the Netherlands and of course Brazil.

I predict that Brazil will beat Spain 1-0 in the final, even though I know that statistically, it is more likely that Brazil won't win than that they will.

I expect that England will come second in their group despite probably being overdue a bit of luck, meaning they will probably lose to Colombia in the next round. Otherwise, I expect them to play and beat Ivory Coast, then lose to Spain ...resulting in another disappointing tournament.

I don't think it's a big prediction to say that there could be as many as five of the six South American teams in the last 16...and maybe 4 in the last 8 (4 in the last 8 was achieved in 2010, and that wasn't even in South America).

The team that comes second in Group F will do well simply by virtue of being in an unbalanced group...I think the Netherlands on the otherhand are set to one of the biggest losers because they're on course to play Brazil in the last 16 (although they DID beat Brazil at the 2010 WC)...or if they do better than Spain in their group, Mexico, who will still be fairly difficult.

I hope that the setting and the number of South American teams will bring out a lot of flair play...the climate seems like quite a large unknown factor.

[Absurd]

Put in religion.

[kopyk]

@truck is there some homoerotic reason why str8 men watch other str8 men compete in sports?

[Anglas]

Brazil is most likely to win WC statistically.

I hate all southern Europe teams, so it would be really nice to see them going home after group stages

[Socionics Is A Cult]

Hopefully England can help by beating Italy 3-0...England seems a little underrated in those odds

[leckysupport]

I enjoy disappointment, failure and pain.

Therefore I will support England, as it is my duty.

[Socionics Is A Cult]

this years' squad seems so very underwhelming...

If the team chosen was mostly of the younger players, I'd be feeling more optimistic but I suspect players like Gerrard will still be playing

[Hot Scalding Gayser]

@

truck is there some homoerotic reason why str8 men watch other str8 men compete in sports?

yes @Ath, sports are very homoerotic yet very 'str8 man identified' that is interesting isn't it? every man is probably gay, and we only sleep with women to feel superior to oders once in awhile. objectively dat feels true, and freud's ghost just nodded in agreement.

[Kim]

GO GERMANY GO!

Fun times!

[Socionics Is A Cult]

You can now create your McDonalds Hamburgers Fantasy Team... http://en.mcdonalds.fantasy.fifa.com

if a few people here do so, we could create a league!

[The Martrix]

Hopefully England can help by beating Italy 3-0...England seems a little underrated in those odds

You know it's going to be 0-0. Boring Roy! We can't even score against Honduras.

this years' squad seems so very underwhelming...

If the team chosen was mostly of the younger players, I'd be feeling more optimistic but I suspect players like Gerrard will still be playing

I bet Milner will be playing against Italy. You do you want to start?

P.S I wanted to write come on England in the national colours. However, unfortunately white is invisible.

[Pa3s]

I'll most likely watch a few matches, but I won't root for anyone. All this hype seems quite silly to me and the fact that the large tournaments are highly commercialised makes me dislike the world cup even more.

What's funny is how the (normally repressed) national pride shows:





Everyone roots for their country, that's normal. But some German fans have taken it to a ridiculous level. And after the world cup it's "Fuck Germany"/"Who cares about football?" again. Gotta love the hypocrisy.

[Anglas]

You can now create your McDonalds Hamburgers Fantasy Team... http://en.mcdonalds.fantasy.fifa.com

if a few people here do so, we could create a league!

+

[Kim]

Everyone roots for their country, that's normal. But some German fans have taken it to a ridiculous level. And after the world cup it's "Fuck Germany"/"Who cares about football?" again. Gotta love the hypocrisy.

OH GO AWAY!



I think I should get two of these...

[Kim]

What really makes me a hypocrite is my reservation about the environmental impact of building the WC facilities and the forced relocation of indigenous groups because I will still be watching...

[krieger]

I enjoy disappointment, failure and pain.

Therefore I will support England, as it is my duty.

that is such a French attitude


as for me i hope netherlands quickly loses so the stupid hysteria ends.

[Pa3s]

OH GO AWAY!

It's ok if you're doing it, as you're living in exile.

What really makes me a hypocrite is my reservation about the environmental impact of building the WC facilities and the forced relocation of indigenous groups because I will still be watching...

Yeah, that's the worst thing of all. I forgot to mention it.

[Socionics Is A Cult]

According to the Times predictor, rounding to the closest full Goal Difference (e.g. 0, +1 etc.), the scores are likely to be:

Brazil vs. Croatia 2-0
Mexico vs. Cameroon 1-0
Spain vs. Netherlands 1-1 1-0
Chile vs. Australia 2-1
Colombia vs. Greece 1-0
Ivory Coast vs. Japan 1-1
Uruguay vs. Costa Rica 1-0
England vs. Italy 1-0
Switzerland vs. Ecuador 1-1
France vs. Honduras 1-0
Argentina vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-0
Iran vs. Nigeria 1-1
Germany vs. Portugal 1-1
Ghana vs. United States 1-1
Belgium vs. Algeria 1-0
Russia vs. South Korea 1-0

Brazil vs. Mexico 2-0
Cameroon vs. Croatia 1-1 0-1
Australia vs. Netherlands 0-1
Spain vs. Chile 1-0
Colombia vs. Ivory Coast 1-0
Japan vs. Greece 1-1
Uruguay vs. England 1-1
Italy vs. Costa Rica 0-0 1-0
Switzerland vs. France 0-1
Honduras vs. Ecuador 0-1
Argentina vs. Iran 1-0
Nigeria vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-1
Germany vs. Ghana 1-0
United States vs. Portugal 0-1
Belgium vs. Russia 1-1
South Korea vs. Algeria 0-0

Cameroon vs. Brazil 0-3
Croatia vs. Mexico 1-1
Australia vs. Spain 0-2
Netherlands vs. Chile 1-1
Japan vs. Colombia 0-1
Greece vs. Ivory Coast 1-1
Italy vs. Uruguay 0-1
Costa Rica vs. England 0-1
Honduras vs. Switzerland 0-1
Ecuador vs. France 1-1
Nigeria vs. Argentina 0-1
Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Iran 1-1 1-0
United States vs. Germany 1-2
Portugal vs. Ghana 1-1 1-0
South Korea vs. Belgium 0-1
Algeria vs. Russia 0-1

But in terms on win, lose, or draw, the predictor never predicts a draw as being the most likely result (basically because one team is usually regarded as stronger than another and even when equal, a draw is comparatively not likely)...so it means they predict Spain as having a 47.8% chance of beating the Netherlands but with a predicted goal difference of 0.48. As there are 19 draws here and it is likely there may in fact be about 14 draws, I've put an alternative score for five of the games in bold (the draws with the highest goal difference).

[Socionics Is A Cult]

according to the way they rank teams, they predict the groups will be like this:
A
Brazil
Mexico
Croatia
Cameroon

B
Spain
Netherlands
Chile
Australia

C
Colombia
Ivory Coast
Greece
Japan

D
England
Uruguay
Italy
Costa Rica

E
France
Ecuador
Switzerland
Honduras

F
Argentina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Nigeria
Iran

G
Germany
Portugal
Ghana
United States

H
Russia
Belgium
Algeria
South Korea

so all things being equal, Chile and Italy are probably the biggest teams they expect to be knocked out, and Bosnia is probably the smallest team expected to go through. I think Group D is the most contentious. They don't seem to see much difference between Uruguay and England in terms of strength either, and maybe Uruguay would benefit from playing in South America compared to England. Having Russia above Belgium is probably also a bit contentious, although looking at 'recent' results it may have some truth in it.

[InvisibleJim]

I'm supporting Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica. For now.

[Socionics Is A Cult]

why not Scotland?

[InvisibleJim]

Got humped in the qualifiers again.

[The Martrix]

It doesn't benefit Italy that they have to play all their games in the north of Brazil, with long trips back and forth between their camp.

[Anglas]

[Anglas]

Is there any reason to believe some other team besides Brazil will win?

no, unless you're murican

[FDG]

England vs. Italy 1-0

lol u wish

anyway I used to be somewhat lukewarm when it came to soccer nationalism but living in Germany has changed my attutide completely, now I root for Italy 100% and watch all the matches etc.etc

I don't think we'll do particularly well, our team is weak and the players don't play together that often, but I hope we'll make to the quarterfinals

[Beautiful sky]

I enjoy disappointment, failure and pain.

Therefore I will support England, as it is my duty.

Lol I am very sure that US won't win. I am going with Brazil otherwise i may be a disgrace to the female sex ( hot men....you get it right )

[aisa]

Brazil and Spain - I'm watching both football (they're good) and "footballers" (they're good too)

[Anglas]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/wor...orts-culture#1
this was so necessary

[Socionics Is A Cult]

That match should have been 2-2...never a penalty and Croatia had a goal disallowed unfairly.

Brazil don't seem quite strong enough to be favourites yet, although they were very strong in the Confederations Cup last year.

[Socionics Is A Cult]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/wor...orts-culture#1
this was so necessary

yes it was quite odd how they showed goal-line technology for that goal

[Socionics Is A Cult]

Apparently with those three Doves of Peace they released...it's been reported that two of them flew into the stands and died, and the third is known to have flown into the press box and may not have died.

[Socionics Is A Cult]

van Persie, flying Dutchman...that was awesome...

Not sure now if I want England to come top of their group, because if they do, they'll probably end up playing the Netherlands in the quarters (I suppose it depends on whether this was a one-off bad performance from Spain...but the Netherlands were far stronger...). I'd rather Englans was knocked out by the Netherlands or Brazil over Argentina anyway

[krieger]

[FDG]

van Persie, flying Dutchman...that was awesome...

Not sure now if I want England to come top of their group,

Maybe they won't even qualify, you know

[Socionics Is A Cult]

maybe there's a slight possibility of that

[Anglas]

[krieger]

Is there any reason to believe some other team besides Brazil will win?

I never watch sports and have even less reason to watch this knowing who'll win (unless the game is Iran v US).

smh. probabilistics, noob

a team other than Brazil WILL most likely win. and they are the most likely team to win.

[Pa3s]

When England and Italy meet at midnight (CET), I want Italy to win.

[Beautiful sky]

The game btw Netherlands and Spain was interesting to watch