Who will win the 2014 World Cup in Brazil?

Mexico since 1998 has 2 losses against European teams during the WC let's talk about that then.. but I think I've already posted that

Yes perhaps I shouldn't use the term World class, more top quality, however it doesn't change my point. Mexico is actually a team I rate highly, my point is to give them respect and to then excuse Portugal, France or England makes no sense. Even though I believe Mexico should have slightly better odds then England.

That's the problem.. on paper... when you base something on paper your base is European Stats and European leagues, because that's what you watch and what you know.
So how can you say that on paper Mexico is worse if you don't even have a paper on them?

No, not because of paper, but look at WC records. Mexico always advance from group stage, but never reached far this point, being eliminated in the last 3 World Cups by USA and 2x Argentina.

Portugal, however, reached the semi-finals in 2006, eliminating in the process The Netherlands, England and beating Mexico in first round. Being eliminated only by Spain in 2010 and reaching 2 semi-finals and 1 final in the last 4 European champions, a feature that neither Germany and Italy has accomplished.

You still think Portugal is overrated?
If we could beat the minnows in qualifying like we do in WC we would be as favourites as France, Dutch and England for example.

We have accomplished more than, for example, Spain pre-08, who was always acted as favourites that choked.

Btw, I do rate Mexico as a very good team, but not at Portugal level.

Don't bother, Portugal is more hated then Hitler. No logic or reason required.

I'll make a double post, just to clarify a point of view of mine.

For me, there are 17 "major" national teams historically, that only loses one or two WC, EC due the generation changes. (Hungary is the only one i maintain in the group due the outstanding beginning of the century), and i rank them in 5 groups, below.

Group 1
Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Italy

Group 2
Spain, France, Uruguay

Group 3
Portugal, England, Hungary, Netherlands

Group 4
Mexico, Czech Rep. (Former Czechoslovakia), Sweden, Serbia (Former Yugoslavia), Korea and Russia (Former Soviet Union)

I don't excuse those teams, I put them on the same level as Mexico. If Mexico squares against Portugal, France or England, I think it will be a close game that can go both ways.

I still remember in 2010 right before the England vs US game, on ESPN they had Alexis Lalas in the pre game show predicted a close game probably by the margin of 1 goal to the winner and followed by an analysis which showcased what to watch out for from the US team and England, then the commentator from England predicted an easy win 3 maybe 4 x 0 and said nobody at home is expecting anything less than that.

At the end of the game Lalas simply said, well I thought it was going to go this way and gave a real analysis of both teams and the trends of players from both teams... while the British commentator is just shocked. Because to him on paper that should have never happened... while he had no idea of how well any of the US players played.

I'm scared for the US team this WC.. omg they are bad right now.

I agree with you here, and currently I just see Serbia, Czech Rep, Sweden and Russia not being as strong.

but for a more recent list I would likely place Japan, Ghana, Cameroon on the place of Serbia, Czech Rep and Russia. while Sweden I would just remove from the list.

Germany is a lock for WC semi with a Final here and there. They also are a lock for Euro semi with a final here and there.

Germany is the most consistent football nation, they never have down years.

Well but you can't generalize what a pundit says and what is the reality, if you watched the match between Brazil and Colombia, here in Brazil people and some pundits were bashing Mano Menezes for tieing with Colombia, as if the Colombian team was ridiculous.

Russia under Capello and Sweden under Ibrahimovic are very strong right now.

I do agree with Ghana, Mexico and Japan. That's why is so sad to have both Ghana and Zambia in the same qualifying group, in which the ghanaians had already lost one match.

Cameroon however, failed to beat Cape Verde Islands and will miss the 2nd African Cup on a row.

Well most fans in Brazil Believe we should never lose a WC to begin with. Which is unrealistic!

Mano got bashed for losing to Germany France and Argentina, all while playing away matches. Like it's really easy winning against those teams at home.

Yes, what I find most shocking is that it doesn’t change. I know teams disappoint and have bad years but how long exactly does England have to play poorly for everyone including English media to say "you know what, maybe we are just not good" I strongly believe it will take another 40 or 50 years. The very definition of insanity.

How many times did Mexico reach the quarterfinals in a World Cup compared to France, England and Portugal?

before 2010 spain had been pass the quarterfinals only once in their history and that was in 1950... and they wont it all in 2010,,, just because mexico havent been pass the quarters doesnt mean they cant do it in 2014s... you have to look at the generation of players they have now and how good they have been playing vs big teams like brasil... they have won youths world cup twice in the last ten yrs and their football has improved immensely
to me they are a shoein to get out of group and with some luck they can go far.. maybe the semis.. right now they are on the same level as england, france, italy, portugal, colombia, chile, uruguay, holland, ghana.. teams that are good and can surprise but are not the favorites going in

the only Heavyweights right now are spain, germany, argentina because of messi and brasil that's it

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I completely agree. And every heavyweight still has a lot of questions around their teams, but clearly they are above everyone else when it comes to competition.

The difference between pre-success Spain and Mexico is the talent level. I'm not knocking Mexico, because they have some talented players, and are a solid side; but Spain has and has had a side full of players from the top clubs in the world. Mexico doesn't. There's no comparison.

Likewise, the same could be said for Italy and Portugal. Mexico is not on that level.

Stop with the bias toward teams from the Americas. Neither Argentina nor Brazil have played well enough in recent years to be considered the "heavyweights." The advantage that the former have is that they will be playing a World Cup in Brazil.

In my view, Spain will be the favorites until someone can beat them. Brazil should contend because they are at home. Then, Italy, Germany and possibly Argentina round off the contenders. I'd be very surprised if anyone else won.

Agreed. Only thing in common between pre-WC'10 Spain and pre-WC'14 Mexico is they both lost to the USA. But yeah, that was literally Spain's only hiccup covering about 2-3 years so there were plenty of clues that Spain would go far in WC 2010. In fact, they were favorites to win that World Cup before a ball was even kicked, despite their history. Mexico are something like 60/1 to win in 2014.

Zero comparison.

with your reasoning england should win it since all their players play in premier league lolol you need to stop your european bias
lolol who the hell those italy have to win it all... a bunch of old guys and a bunch of kids... balloteli, shaarawy, govinco are good youngster but they wont win it for italy .. if they qualify they probably wont get out of group

besides you contradict yourself first you say my list of heavyweights is wrong then you say you cant see anybody winning it but the four i listed as heavyweights plus italy.. arguing for the sake of arguing


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You sound like a broken vinyl. It's funny to read such posts two or three times a day, though.

I didn't realize Portugal was so under-rated here. They're far better defensively than the Mexicans, and Ronaldo, Moutinho, Nani and Danny are all as good or better than any mexican attackers or midfielders. Portugal are a top team right now, hell they just took a great spanish side to penalties this past summer in a competitive knockout game, not some friendly. Portugal are a very tough team and easily in Europe's top 4 right now and ahead of every non-euro team other than Brazil and possibly Argentina.

THIS!
people need to come around to this... And you wonder why people which are unbiased because they did not grow up watching and have a emotional attachment to the Euro leagues don't think they are that much different than all the other leagues in the world.

You can't say you have the top teams in your league from top to bottom when 40% of the league are british players...

I've already tried to even explain how numerically that doesn't make sense, how with a bigger talent pool you would get a larger amount of quality. But still you guys just want to shut your eyes and ears and regurgitate the same.

NO EUROPEAN IS TOP BECAUSE I THINK SO!

Way I feel about portugal is the same way I feel about Uruguay. They can beat you any given day. but it was a lucky day for them.

Who are England's world class talents? Outside Rooney, the other guys are either too young, past it or not good enough. That's never been the case with Spain, that has a virtual all star squad.

Again, you are showing your ignorance with regard to Italy. Italy have the core of a Juventus squad that went unbeaten last season, and is currently in first place in Serie A and finished first in a CL group with Chelsea and Shaktar. Then add guys like De Rossi, El Shaarawy and Balotelli. "If Italy qualify..." You have no clue.

We listed similar teams, but for different reasons. I don't know if I would consider Brazil and Argentina contenders if the Cup weren't played in South America. They both have talented players, but what have they done collectively to show that they can win a World Cup?