Saturday, June 28, 2014

FIFA World Cup 2014 Round of 16 Picks


World cup is perfectly placed at this moment. Four top teams: Brazil, Netherlands, Germany and Argentina are in four corners and if all goes according to the plan (FIFA Ranking) then we will have all those 4 team meeting in Semi-Finals. Brazil will play Germany and Argentina will play Netherlands and as expected by entire Latin America, we will have Brazil vs Argentina Finals with two super stars: Neymar and Messi playing in Finals. Dream sequence, isnt it? But that is not how Sports work, specially in World Cup. If ranking and desire of many had to work, then we wouldn't had teams like Spain, Italy, England getting thrown out in the first stage itself, right? So Let's look at the teams which can cause major upset by each Quarter.





Brazil Quarter: Brazil has advantage and disadvantage in their corner, reason being 4 out of 5 South American teams are part of that quarter. They know the conditions very well. They will have good crowd support (not as much as Brazil but much more than any other teams might have). Also, they will be playing stress free football. They know Brazil is favorite and for them to win, they have to play freely and score goals or more goals than what Brazil can. Brazil looked shaky earlier but later on they found their rhythm. It is highly unlikely that Chile will be able to beat but if they do, that will be a major upset. Colombia will start as favorite against Uruguay because of absence of Suarez. However, Uruguay team will be playing with more motivation to prove a point to the world and Cavani is a threatning goal scorer. Colombia vs Uruguay will be a match to watch from this quarter.









Netherlands Quarter: Netherlands have the toughest first game against Mexico. In fact, It will be a match of Round of 16. There is no way, Netherlands can underestimate Mexico. Mexico defends well and they have best goal keeper from the tournament. Mexico also counter attacks very well. Van Persie was not eligible to play last game, so he will be well rested but perhaps not in the match rhythm. However advantage for both Mexico and Netherlands is that if they win that particular game, next one will be very easy. Both Costa Rica and Greece are not good enough to beat either Mexico or Netherlands. It will be awesome game to watch if Mexico wins against Netherlands and then play their continent opponent: Costa Rica. Although convention wisdom suggests Netherlands must be able to go through, however, do not get surprise if Mexico pulls this one and comes out as a surprise semi final entry.








Germany Quarter: France may object to call this as Germany quarter as both teams were equally dominating. Both France and Germany will be playing against lower rank African teams, Nigeria and Algeria respectively. Neither of them can win against France or Germany and that means we will have easy round of 16 picks but almost next to impossible Quarter Final pick between France and Germany.









Argentina Quarter: Just like Netherlands, Argentina also has a tougher match of round of 16 but it gets easier in Quarter Finals for them. Whoever wins the game between Argentina and Switzerland should be able to win easily against USA vs Belgium winner. Argentina is winning because of Messi's magic and for any reason that magic does not arrive against Swiss, argentina will be in trouble with their not so good defense. Argentina vs Swiss will be a good game to win but most likely Argentina will go through that and next one easily. Its hard to pick between USA and Belgium but whoever wins does not matter because they will have tougher Quarter final to play.






 

My 4 Semi Finalists are: Brazil, Germany, Mexico and Switzerland.

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