World Cup Finals,Brazil 2014

[Zidane]

With the finals starting in just a couple of weeks time,I have decided to open up a new World Cup topic to replace the old "qualifying" thread which is a bit dated now,I think.
Please feel free to post all the World Cup news and results,your own personal views and any pictures of scantily clad South American female football fans that you deem appropriate.
This thread is open to all football fans.....English,Dutch,French,Italian,Swiss,American,Australian etc. and even if your country has not qualified you are more than welcome to air your views on the tournament.
Some teams played pre-World Cup friendlies last night,notably.....
Australia 1 South Africa 1 ; Russia 1 Slovackia 0 ; Macedonia 0 Cameroon 2 ; Belgium 5 Luxembourg 1 ;

Belgium had quite a few English Premier League players in their team including Lukaku who scored a hat trick,Vertonghen,Fellaini,Kompany,Vermaelen,Mirallas,Hazard and Janujaz,plus Mignolet and Dembele who didnt feature and players from other leagues well known to us like Van Buyten and De Bruyne.
They might be the team us English fans have to adopt after the first week ?

The FIFA World cup kicks off on 12th June,with the Brazil v Croatia,and lasts until Sunday 13th July when the Final will be played.

[Prenders88]

I am already going to support the Red Devils (Belgium) a few of the squad play for Chelsea. The English donkeys will be knocked out in the early stages, I hope the FA take a wagon load of carrots.

[Earnest]

[stattointhailand]

Sounds to me more like DM must have made a drunken comment about cheap Belgian beers for their fans :-"

It will be the first and only time Prenders praises Fellaini

[Barney]

I am usually the first to stand up and support the aussies but 1-1 with Sth Africa.

Tim Cahill quote

Veteran Cahill, 34, said there were some good signs against the injury-depleted South Africans, adding that Australia were working on a plan to be ready for their World Cup opener against Chile on June 13.
"There was some glimpses of some great stuff. We did a lot of things we were supposed to and we'll probably work on the things we didn't do," he said.

WTF does that statement mean?? You have to score goals to win a game and we never seem to do that.

Chile, Spain and the Netherlands must be licking their pouted lips having the aussies in the group and in anticipation of having one in the bag already without a whistle being blown. Actually with one guaranteed win that makes their other games more perilous. Any draw or bad day out could be catastrophic for the likes of the favourites in the group.

But funnier things have happened on the sports field and the socceroo's could prevail.
Go Australia.

[socksy]

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27397958

Five howler misses video from the tournament qualifying rounds.

[GT93]

How's the food over there? I heard it's a bit dodgy even in the posh hotels.

May there be many tremendous upsets. And I don't mean upset stomachs.

[Zidane]

The quality of food has become quite an issue in Brazil after health officials raided the hotels in Rio de Janeiro to be used by England and Italy.......
The Royal Tulip hotel,where England will be staying,had 2.6kg of salmon,parma ham and butter taken away as it was deemed unfit for consumption.
Officials at Italys hotel discovered 25kg of seafood and margarine past the sell by date plus another 24kg of meat,sauces,cheese and sugar which had no visible sell by date.
However,the Caesar Park hotel to be used by the Netherlands squad was found to have no irregularities......potential holidaymakers to Rio de Janeiro,please note.

Meanwhile,back to the football itself,more teams have been playing warm up matches.....
France 4 Norway 0 ; Japan 1 Cyprus 0 ;Nigeria 2 Scotland 2 ; USA 2 Ajerbaijan 0 ;
South Korea 0 Tunisia 1 ;

Latest odds for the World Cup include....
Brazil 3/1
Argentina 9/2
Germany 11/2
Spain 6/1
Belgian 14/1
France 20/1
England 25/1
Italy 25/1
Uruguay 28/1
Netherlands 33/1
USA 150/1
Australia 750/1
Costa Rica 2500/1......maybe England have a chance there.

[GT93]

If Brazil could enter a B team, I wonder what odds for that team. 20/1?

[Zidane]

Several more teams playing pre World Cup friendlies tonight including,Spain v Bolivia,Switzerland v Jamaica and Iran v Angola which promises to be a cracker !
Also playing are England v Peru at Wembley and Englands only doubt is Luke Shaw who has a cold.
Meanwhile Shaws Southampton teammate,Ricky Lambert,is said to be on the verge of joining Liverpool in a 4m deal which should be concluded before the start of the World Cup.

[socksy]

Several more teams playing pre World Cup friendlies tonight including,Spain v Bolivia,Switzerland v Jamaica and Iran v Angola which promises to be a cracker !
Also playing are England v Peru at Wembley and Englands only doubt is Luke Shaw who has a cold.
Meanwhile Shaws Southampton teammate,Ricky Lambert,is said to be on the verge of joining Liverpool in a 4m deal which should be concluded before the start of the World Cup.

I presume Lambert will be a back up or plan B option to the three S's up front.

[phen]

Looks that not everyone is happy with the World Cup games.
http://www.lunaticnews.nl/nieuws/****-fifa/

Nice wall paintings but the message is also clear.

[jackspratt]

Looks that not everyone is happy with the World Cup games.
http://www.lunaticnews.nl/nieuws/****-fifa/

Nice wall paintings but the message is also clear.

Yep - pretty powerful message.

If the WC doesn't go well, it could get very ugly for the Olympics in a couple of year.

[stattointhailand]

Noticed on Fox sports news that the Australians are the first team to arrive in Brazil for the finals.

Travel company offered them a bargain fare if they booked at least 23 days, so they have gone out 16 days before the tourny starts

[Barney]

Noticed on Fox sports news that the Australians are the first team to arrive in Brazil for the finals.

Travel company offered them a bargain fare if they booked at least 23 days, so they have gone out 16 days before the tourny starts

Just getting there early to get a few aussie $ on with the bookies while we are still at 2500/1.
Price will drop rapidly soon after the first game.

[leterry60614]

How can we watch all the games live on internet?

[BobHelm]

Well if you wish to watch it on UK television & have a VPN then
the BBC & ITV i-players are probably the best place to go.

But just about every country in the world is showing it on their domestic TV.
Many have internet players that allow viewing over the net.
For some countries you would need a VPN to view as they restrict to IP addresses from their country only..

[socksy]

How can we watch all the games live on internet?

I suppose there will be some free live streaming available but I'm playing it safe with 365sport.com through my PC/Laptop, or a more expensive option with a set-top-box is with thaiexpattv which I think works out at 2,000 baht a month with free delivery anywhere in Thailand. If I remember right when I subscribed to 365sport it was a minimum three month contrat.
My Laptop is rigged to my large screen TV so can watch it on that.

[GT93]

I think they need Taggart to look at that Nigerian goalie socksy.

[socksy]

I think they need Taggart to look at that Nigerian goalie socksy.

Brings back memories " dinnae get oot the car boss theres''s been another murder"

With the emphasis on rolling the 'r's not arse