M0vieM0nster wrote:England to WIN!...NOT! Grrrr! Germany and Brazil maybe :P
While Germany, based on their first game only (and history of getting better as a tournament progresses), is a good guess, I'm not very impressed with the 2 games, I've seen Brasil play. They do however, play on their own turf, and must as such be among the favorites.
Delivering a good performance over a number of games is a much harder task than winning just the one. I expect to see more from France, but a number of Latin/Southamerican teams have impressed me - namely Chile and Costa Rica (what a surprise, altho I don't expect the latter to advance to the knock out phase). Argentina and Brasil both have more to prove to me. Nice goal by a frightening ineffective Messi tho, while we haven't seen too much of Neymar. Chile is a hard contender. I'm very impressed by their style of offensive play, very different from European styles of play.
I did expect England to at least get a 1/8 final, but alas.
Denmark didn't even qualify
Italy is, as always, a dark horse, not to count out of the fray. If I had to choose only one team, it would be Germany; not because they deserve it - but simply because German Football have taken over from the Spanish school. Bayern München (Champions League winners), especially, is proof of this shift of power. Oh, and they have the broadest team; every position can be played by two or more players. They have the largest Medical Staff, not letting anything to chance. And finally - Müller. Need I say more?
[quote="M0vieM0nster"]QUOTE (M0vieM0nster @ Jun 19 2014, 10:14 PM) England to WIN!...NOT! Grrrr! Germany and Brazil maybe :P [/quote]
While Germany, based on their first game only (and history of getting better as a tournament progresses), is a good guess, I'm not very impressed with the 2 games, I've seen Brasil play. They do however, play on their own turf, and must as such be among the favorites.
Delivering a good performance over a number of games is a much harder task than winning just the one. I expect to see more from France, but a number of Latin/Southamerican teams have impressed me - namely Chile and Costa Rica (what a surprise, altho I don't expect the latter to advance to the knock out phase). Argentina and Brasil both have more to prove to me. Nice goal by a frightening ineffective Messi tho, while we haven't seen too much of Neymar. Chile is a hard contender. I'm very impressed by their style of offensive play, very different from European styles of play.
I did expect England to at least get a 1/8 final, but alas. :shrug: Denmark didn't even qualify :cry:
Italy is, as always, a dark horse, not to count out of the fray. If I had to choose only one team, it would be Germany; not because they deserve it - but simply because German Football have taken over from the Spanish school. Bayern München (Champions League winners), especially, is proof of this shift of power. Oh, and they have the broadest team; every position can be played by two or more players. They have the largest Medical Staff, not letting anything to chance. And finally - Müller. Need I say more?