Chapter 188: Preparing for the World Cup

Four years of reincarnation, it is time for the World Cup to kick off again, this time, the World Cup moved to the South American continent, to Brazil, known as the football kingdom, 32 teams, will be in Brazil, for the supreme honor in the football world, to start a fierce fight.

The 32-team teams are divided into eight groups, and in Group A, Brazil are the hosts, and their FIFA ranking has dropped to 22nd, the worst in history, because they do not need to participate in the qualifiers, but that does not prevent them from being the favourites to win the title.

In last year's Confederations Cup, Brazil lost to Degan's Belgium in the final and finished as runners-up, but they beat Italy 4-2 in the group stage, Uruguay 2-1 in the semi-finals, and only lost to Belgium by one goal in the final.

The star of the current Brazilian team is undoubtedly the talented striker Neymar, who transferred to Barcelona last year, the young star known as the "successor to Pele", who transferred to La Liga Barcelona for a transfer fee of 57 million euros last year, and had a very good performance last season.

In addition to Neymar, the Brazilian team also has Hulk, Oscar, Alves, Thiago. Silva, Lucas, David. Luiz, Marcelo and many other well-known stars in European football, for the football kingdom of Brazil, there is no shortage of stars.

Of course, we can't forget Kaka, after joining Tottenham Hotspur last season, Kaka also showed a strong rebound momentum, he and Degan formed an attacking partnership, became the most terrifying combination in European football last season, and finally he also impressed Scolari with his outstanding performance, and at the last moment, caught the last train of the World Cup.

In the previous two World Cups, although the Brazilian team failed to lift the championship trophy, they were the only team to participate in all 19 World Cups, and this time they participated in the 20th World Cup as the host, and they also played on home soil, and their call for victory was already very high before the game even started.

In Group A, Brazil's biggest opponent will be Europe's Croatia, who will compete for the fourth time since qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in 1998.

At present, this Croatia team can also be called a star-studded team, with Tottenham's brain Modric in midfield, and the old captain Srna is a natural leader, in addition to Kranica, and in the forward line, Bayern's Mandzukic, Wolfsburg's Olich, Everton's Jelavic, and West Ham United's Petrich are all well-known figures in European football.

Another team in Group A is Mexico, the soccer powerhouse of Central and North America, whose 2014 World Cup in Brazil will be Mexico's 15th appearance, having missed only five of previous tournaments.

Former Barcelona star Marcos is still the captain of the Mexican team, but the team's number one star is Hernandez who plays for Manchester United, nicknamed "Little Pea", in addition to former Barcelona striker Giovanni dos Santos, who now plays for Villarreal, has been excellent this season, and Guardado, who now plays for Valencia, is also a player to be reckoned with.

The final team in Group A is Cameroon from the African continent, and this trip to Brazil will be Cameroon's seventh appearance in the World Cup finals, and they are also the team that has participated in the most World Cup finals in Africa.

Cameroon is also a star-studded squad, with Samuel Eto'o still captain and the legendary superstar who played in the 1998 World Cup, if not the only player, to have played in France at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. In addition to Samuel Eto'o, Cameroon has Barcelona star Alexander in midfield. Song, who has Sevilla central defender Mbia at the back, is a well-known star in world football.

Group B is the first group of death of this World Cup, which brings together the runners-up team of the last World Cup, the Netherlands, the uncrowned king of Spain, who has enjoyed the reputation of world football in recent years, the South American powerhouse Chile, and the same Australia to be underestimated.

Although Australia is not favored by people, and some people even regard them as cannon fodder in Group B, but if you underestimate Australia, it is destined to pay a price, this World Cup in Brazil will be the fourth time that Australian Kangaroos have participated in the World Cup finals, since they joined the AFC, two consecutive successful breakthroughs from the qualifiers.

Cahill, a veteran of the New York Red Bulls, is undoubtedly Australia's number one star and centre-forward Kennedy, who is now playing for Japan's Nagoya Whales, is a big name in Asia.

Group B is the most favored team in the last World Cup runner-up team Netherlands, the "orange team" has the title of "uncrowned king", they have reached the World Cup final three times in history, but none of them won the championship, this tournament, the Netherlands will participate in the World Cup finals for the 10th time, I don't know if they can have a breakthrough in Brazil.

Manchester United striker Robin van Persie will be the leading Dutch squad at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, having scored 11 goals in qualifying, the most of any player in qualifying. Bayern winger, "Peter Pan" Robben will still make the Dutch team fly, Van der Vaart and Sneijder will also play a certain role in the midfield, among the newcomers, Roma's post-90s midfielder Struttman is worth paying attention to, and Feyenoord winger Janmaert is now the main force in the right-back position of the Dutch team.

The head coach of the Dutch team is, a generation of coach Van Gaal, this is his second time in charge of the Dutch national team, the last time he coached the Dutch team missed the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, and then stepped down, this time Van Gaal led the Dutch team to a strong performance in the qualifiers, and two rounds ahead of schedule to reach the World Cup finals.

In Group B, the Netherlands' biggest rival for the top spot in the group is Spain, who seem to be more suited to the title of uncrowned king, having lost to Belgium in the semi-finals at the last World Cup, and who also suffered a heavy defeat at the European Championship two years ago.

But the Spaniard's flamboyant style of football doesn't seem to have gone unnoticed, and despite the fact that there are no champions to prove it, the Spanish style of play has been admired all over the world.

The current Spanish team can be called a star-studded team, many of the world's top players may not even be able to enter the starting line-up, in the goalkeeper position, captain Casillas can not play in Real Madrid, but in the national team, Guardiola still uses him as the first choice of the tournament, and Valdés and Reina are also very good. At the back, the center-back partnership of Pique and Ramos is very solid, the left-back is Barcelona defender Alba, who has a strong attack, and the right-back is the weak link, and Arbeloa is not playing the main team in Real Madrid now.

Where Spain is ahead of other national teams in midfield, Iniesta, Xavi and Sergio Busquets' Barcelona iron triangle will continue to play a role. Alonso has been plagued by injuries but his quality is unquestionable, and Cesc Fabregas can play as a striker or as a midfielder.

In the forward line, Manchester City's Silva, Barcelona's Pedro, Manchester City's Keylor Navas, Chelsea's Juan Mata can play as a winger or second striker, and the center positions include Negredo, Torres, Villa, Soldado, Llorent, and naturalized Atletico Madrid's Brazilian striker Diego. Costa, they will all fight for the main position.

The last team in Group B is Chile from South America, and this time it can be said that they are playing at home, and this will be their ninth World Cup finals.

Chile's star of the house is Alex. Alexis Sanchez, who now plays for Barcelona in La Liga, showed his individual quality at the 2010 World Cup, while Chile has Juventus star Vidal in midfield.

Group C may not be as star-studded as the other groups, but the four teams are close in strength and have all hopes, with Japan being the first team to qualify for the round of 32 of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, other than hosts Brazil.

At present, Japanese football is unparalleled in Asia, and even in the middle of the world, there are also many stars in the team, Shinji Kagawa, who plays for Manchester United, has excellent skills, but he has played little time at Manchester United, which affects his form in the national team, Keisuke Honda is now playing for AC Milan, defender Nagatomo Yu is playing for Inter Milan, in addition, the Japanese team has a number of players who play in the Bundesliga, and many players in Europe will also ensure that they have a strong competitiveness on the World Cup stage.

The head coach of the Japanese team is Italian Zaccheroni, who has a high reputation in international football. In the 10 years before taking charge of Japan, he coached AC Milan, Lazio, Inter Milan, Torino and Juventus.

In 2010, he succeeded Takeshi Okada as the head coach of the Japanese team, and then led the team to win the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar.

The weakest of Group C are Greece, who created the myth in 2004, and this World Cup will be their second World Cup final, having lost the play-offs to eventual champions Belgium in the last World Cup, and this time in the European qualifiers, despite the strong group rivals, they still appeared early.

Greece's captain and flag man Karagunis is still in the squad and occupies a starting position, and despite his age, Karagunis performed very well at Fulham last season and is still the heart of the Greek team's midfield.

In the Greek forward line, high school striker Samaras will not be underestimated, the Celtic center is excellent in terms of technique, physicality and coordination, and young Genoa winger and attacking midfielder Fetfazidis are also worth paying attention to.

The strongest in Group C is undoubtedly Colombia, which will be their fifth World Cup finals, and with Brazil as the hosts, Colombia will qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as the second place in South America after Argentina.

The current star of Colombia is Falcao, who transferred from La Liga Madrid to Ligue 1 Monaco for a transfer fee of 60 million euros last summer. Rodriguez, who also plays for Monaco.

Colombia are coached by Argentine Pekerman, who led Argentina to the 2006 World Cup, but as the favourites to win the tournament, Argentina eventually lost to hosts Germany on penalties in the quarter-finals.

The final team in Group C is Ivory Coast, the African elephant, which has risen to prominence in recent years and has become a formidable force in African football. Under the leadership of European superstars such as Drogba and the Toure brothers, Ivory Coast reached the World Cup finals for the third time in a row and the third time in history.

Although not as strong as South America and Europe, the names of Ivory Coast's stars are well-known, especially their central axis. On the forward line, "Warcraft" Drogba is old and strong, after leaving Shanghai Shenhua and returning to the European arena, he continues to maintain a good form in Galatasaray, he is still the captain of the team, and the midfield has Manchester City's Yaya. Toure, who has every right to compete for the title of the Premier League's No. 1 midfielder, is the best midfielder in the Premier League. Toure is old, but his experience is still there.

Group D is the second group of death in this World Cup, the most favored of which is Italy, who qualified for the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil two rounds ahead of schedule.

Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Pirlo and De Rossi are the only players in the current Italian national team who won the trophy in Germany in 2006, and Italy has now replenished a lot of young blood, but goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and midfielder Andrea Pirlo are still the core players of this team, and in attack, AC Milan striker Balotelli is the absolute firepower of this team.

Italy's head coach is still Degan's mentor Prandelli, he began to coach Fiorentina in 2005, began his own legendary experience, under his rule Fiorentina played passionate and beautiful sexy football, enough to dominate European football for three years, after Italy defeated South Africa in 2010, Prandelli took over the national team coach, and then in the 2012 European Cup, Prandelli led the team all the way to the final, only to lose at the foot of Belgium led by Degan, and won the runner-upIn the 2013 Brazilian Confederations Cup, Prandelli also led the team to third place.

In Group D, Italy's strongest rival is England, who have reached the World Cup finals for the 14th time.

England's current squad is still based on players from the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea in the Premier League, and although Tottenham has been very strong in the last two seasons, there are too few homegrown players in the squad, and only Lennon has been selected for this World Cup.

At the heart of England's current role is Wayne Rooney, who has scored 38 goals in all competitions for England so far, and how Rooney performs will have a direct impact on England's prospects at the World Cup in Brazil.

In addition to Wayne Rooney, the team now includes Frank Lampard from Chelsea, Ashley. Kerr and other old courtiers, as well as Gerrard and Sturridge from Liverpool, and several new stars Townsend, Barkley, Lallana, Wilshere are also worth looking forward to.

Another team to be reckoned with in Group D is Uruguay, who have won the World Cup twice in their history, and this trip to Brazil will be their 12th appearance in the World Cup finals.

Uruguay have shown a strong resurgence in recent years, and their main stars in this World Cup will be Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani.

Cavani currently plays for Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1, and his transfer from Napoli to Paris is a whopping 63 million euros, while Suarez plays for the Premier League's old giants Liverpool and is an important scorer for the Reds up front.

The weakest team in Group D is Costa Rica, who will be playing in the World Cup finals for the fourth time and currently plays for attacking midfielder Brian Fulham in the Premier League. Ruiz is Costa Rica's biggest star.

Group E may become the least suspenseful group of this World Cup in Brazil, with four teams clear and weak, including Switzerland, who will compete in the World Cup finals for the 10th time, and in the qualifiers, the Swiss team has maintained a strong posture, and their opponents Slovenia, Albania, Norway, Iceland and Cyprus have failed to pose a threat to this young team.

Although there are no big stars in the team at present, but every player is an absolute strength, the once young Barnetta, Senderos, Inle, Benaglio are now in the prime of their careers, and another group of new stars led by Shaqiri, who was born in 91, continues to keep this team young and energetic.

The strongest team in the group is undoubtedly France, who will be playing in their 14th World Cup, and despite the twists and turns of the road, there are still very high expectations for the Gallic Roosters.

The biggest star of the current French team is the new European footballer Ribery, but unfortunately before the start of the World Cup, the scar assassin withdrew from the French team due to injury, but although there is no Ribery, the star of this team is still dazzling, Tottenham's Lloris, Arsenal's Koscielny and Giroud, Manchester United's Evra, Juventus' Pogba, Real Madrid's Benzema and Manchester City's Nasri and Clichy and other stars, will be a strong guarantee for France to achieve good results in the World Cup in Brazil next year.

In addition, the most anticipated is that the most anticipated is to lead the French team to the World Cup, will be the captain Deschamps who helped France win the World Cup in 1998, in his playing career, Deschamps left a very brilliant experience in Marseille and Juventus, but as the captain to help the French team win the World Cup in 1998, is the highlight of his career.

After becoming the manager, Deschamps's coaching results have had some highlights, but overall, they are still unsatisfactory, although they brought France to the World Cup finals in Brazil, but the process is really unsatisfactory. But even so, Deschamps still hopes to lead France to good results in Brazil, and helping France win the cup as a coach is believed to be a dream buried in his heart.

Another competitive team in Group E is Ecuador from South America, who have made a big leap forward in the 21st century and will be competing in the World Cup finals for the third time this century and the third time in history.

Ecuador's most famous star at the moment is Manchester United's winger Valencia, although not as star-studded as France, but their strength lies in their wholeness.

Honduras will be the recognized cannon fodder in the group, and this will be their third World Cup finals, they failed to qualify from the group stage in the last World Cup, but their past results do not affect their ambitions, and this World Cup, their goal is to qualify from the group.

Honduras may not have a well-known star, but there are a few players to keep an eye on, such as left-back Emilio. Isagire, who played for Celtic in the Premier League and was the best player in the Premier League for the second year in a row, will dominate the Honduran defence, in addition to midfield defender Wilson, who played in the last World Cup. Palacios plays for Stoke City in the Premier League and is the star of the team.

Group F is also polarised, with the most eye-catching of these being two-time World Cup winners Argentina, who have entered the World Cup finals for the 16th time, and with Brazil as the host, Argentina qualified for the South American zone of the World Cup qualifiers in Brazil two rounds ahead of schedule and finished first in the South American zone.

Argentina have one of the best stars in football today, Messi, who currently plays for Barcelona in La Liga, has won four consecutive Ballon d'Or awards for his club achievements, but he has only scored one goal in two tournaments in Germany 2006 and 2010 in South Africa, and the team has twice reached the quarter-finals.

Messi's helpers have excellent strikers such as Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain, Ravic and Di Maria, and excellent defenders such as Mascherano and Zabaleta, but the rest of the positions are weak, which casts a shadow on Argentina's prospects.

After missing the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Iran reached the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil, where they will compete for the fourth time.

At present, the Iranian team has two players who play for the Osasuna team in La Liga, they are midfielders Nekonan and Shujae, and they are also the two most anticipated players in Iran, and how they play will also be directly related to the final fate of the Iranian team.

One of the biggest highlights of Group F is the Bosnia and Herzegovina team, which was celebrated by fans who poured into the streets to celebrate their World Cup qualifiers. After that, he participated in the World Cup finals for the first time.

After the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina became independent, but due to the war, it was not until 1996 that the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was admitted to FIFA and in 1998 to UEFA. At the time of the 1994 World Cup qualifiers and the 1996 European Championship qualifiers, the BiH Football Federation was not a member of FIFA and UEFA. Since then, Bosnia and Herzegovina has participated in the 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010 World Cup qualifiers, but failed to qualify. In the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 European Championship qualifiers, Bosnia and Herzegovina also failed to qualify. The 2014 World Cup will be Bosnia and Herzegovina's first participation in a world competition.

At present, the star of Bosnia and Herzegovina is Dzeko who plays for Manchester City, and there is Ibisevic of Stuttgart in the forward line, Pjanic of Roma in the midfield, Misimovic who plays in the Chinese League, and on the defensive line, Bosnia and Herzegovina has Spasic of Leverkusen, and the goalkeeper has a Premier League goal, and Stoke City's Begovic, although it is the first time to compete in the World Series, the performance of the Bosnia-Herzegovina team is definitely worth looking forward to.

The final team in Group F is Nigeria, which will be their fifth World Cup appearance, but the African Eagles now seem to have lost the sharpness they had when they won the Atlanta 1996 Olympics.

Nigeria's current star is midfielder Mikel who plays for Chelsea in the English Premier League, and in the forward line, Nigeria has a young Liverpool striker Moses, in addition to Obina of Lokomotiv Moscow, Ameobi who plays for Newcastle in the Premier League, and now plays for Lille as a goalkeeper and captain of the Nigerian team Nyama participated in the 2002 South Korea and Japan World Cup as a substitute, and he shone in the group stage of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Group G has the most highlights of this World Cup, and it is also the most worthy of the name of the group of death in this World Cup, the most optimistic is of course the re-emerging German tank, fast and efficient technical play, so that the current German team has completely changed people's traditional view of German football, the young and energetic lineup, but also let the Germanic fans all over the world, the real test of the German team that easily qualified for the qualifiers will be in Brazil, and for them, whether they can win the Hercules Cup, is the ultimate goal.

Bayern goalkeeper Neuer continues the fine tradition of German goalkeepers, after Kahn and Lehmann, Neuer is Germany's most trusted guardian, the core of the defense Lahm as the captain of the team plays a very key role in the leader, and he is also one of the team's offensive initiators, the all-round Lahm can also play a cameo in the back, also has a wonderful performance, midfielder Schweinsteiger is undoubtedly the most dominant conductor of this team, and he is also one of the pillars of the German team in the midfield. Germany's attacking mix up front is full of talented attacking players, with the likes of Arsenal's Mesut Ozil, Bayern's Muller, Gotze and Kroos making this German team more technical and aggressive.

Germany's biggest rival in the group is Portugal, who have reached the World Cup finals for the sixth time.

The Camuro is undoubtedly Portugal's star and currently plays for Real Madrid, who is regarded as one of the best players in football today, having won the World Footballer of the Year and Ballon d'Or in 2008.

In other positions, the Portuguese team is also star-studded, with midfielders Moutinho and Meireles both attacking and defensive, and Pepe and Bruno at the back. With giants such as Alves and a surprise player like Coentrão on the wing, Portugal definitely has the strength to qualify for the group stage and even go further.

The U.S. will play a surprise role in Group G, which will be the Eagles' 10th appearance in the World Cup finals. The U.S. team hasn't missed a World Cup since 1990. Baseball, American football, ice hockey, and basketball are mainstream sports in this country, and football is getting stronger and stronger. In the 2014 World Cup qualifiers in Brazil, the U.S. team finished first in the CONCACAF region and qualified for the World Cup finals.

Although the U.S. team does not have big stars, many players are familiar with their names, such as Donovan, Bradley, Dempsey, Howard, Oneu, and Altidore.

Ghana will also play the role of spoiler, and this World Cup will be their third consecutive World Cup finals competition, Ghana's strength lies in their midfield, Chelsea star Essien has been famous for a long time, although age and injuries have made Essien no longer useful, but Muntari, Prince. Boateng is one of the most dominant midfielders in European football, along with the likes of Ayew and Asamoah, and up front, Gyan shone at the 2010 World Cup.

Group H is arguably the least suspenseful group of the tournament, with the Red Devils Belgium undoubtedly favourites to win the tournament and as the defending champions, they will compete in the World Cup finals for the 14th time.

The current Belgian team is star-studded, which is not bad at all compared to traditional European giants such as England, Italy, and France, and even has a national value in terms of the total value of players.

In the forward line, there are Digan, the world's recognized football king, as well as the "little monster" Lukaku, the midfield has Chelsea core Eden Hazard, and De Bruyne, Tottenham midfielder Dembele, and Fiorentina midfielder Fellaini, Manchester City captain Kompany, Arsenal captain Vermaelen, Tottenham Hotspur defensive core Vertonghen, and goalkeeper Courtois who is on loan from Chelsea to Atletico Madrid.

In this World Cup, Belgium at the press conference before the trip, the captain of the team, Dugan, only said one sentence: "There is only one goal, to win the championship!" Defending! ”

Obviously, Belgium with Degan is super competitive in this World Cup, and Belgium is also at the top of the list in terms of odds to win the championship by major bookmakers.

Although it is the first time for head coach François to lead the team to an international competition, he is also full of confidence: "There is nothing to be ashamed of having Degan, which is Belgium's biggest reliance, in fact, every coach who has coached Degan will have such thoughts. ”

The only threat to Belgium in Group H is Russia, and they will not forget their excellent performances in previous tournaments.

The current Russia, under the tutelage of Italian gold medal coach Fabio Capello, has gained a defensive foothold, and goalkeeper Akinfeev has not missed a single minute of qualifying. The backline is led by CSKA Moscow's Ignashevic, with Zenit's two midfielders, Shirokov and Fayezulin, forming a midfield partner, and up front, Korzhakov, who plays for Zenit.

Fabio Capello's team should never be underestimated, having previously managed AC Milan, Real Madrid, Roma and Juventus, but his national team has not been very successful. Capello managed England between 2008 and 2012, reaching the last 16 of the 2010 World Cup and being eliminated by Germany before qualifying unbeaten in qualifying, but resigned in February 2012 after the FA disqualified John Terry. On July 26, 2012, Capello was appointed head coach of the Russian national team, replacing Advocaat.

Under Capello's leadership, the Russian national team topped the qualifying group with Portugal and qualified directly for the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.

In Group H, South Korea will be in the same group as their son-in-law Degan's Belgium for the second time since the 2010 World Cup, and although they hold the record for the number of World Cup finals by an Asian team, they are unlikely to qualify.

At present, Park Ji-sung in the South Korean team has retired from the South Korean national team, but the South Korean team still has a lot of players who play in Europe, striker Park Joo-young returned to Arsenal after ending his loan at Celta de Vigo but could not play the main team, Ji Dong-won played for Sunderland, midfielder Kim Bo-kyung is the main force of the Cardiff City team, Ji Chengyong plays for Sunderland, and Son Heung-min plays for Bayer Leverkusen, these players may become the biggest support of the South Korean team in this World Cup.

The final team in Group H is Algeria from North Africa, who will be playing in the World Cup finals for the fourth time, and after a lacklustre 2010 World Cup and a poor 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, Algeria qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil with ease, although they will need plenty of luck if they are to qualify from the group.

At present, 32 teams have gathered on the South American continent, and are about to compete fiercely in Brazil, the world's recognized football kingdom, for the supreme World Cup.