FIFA World Cup 2014: Group Round Predictions

Group A

1) Brazil - 9 points

2) Cameroon - 4 points

3) Croatia – 2 points

4) Mexico – 1 point

Brazil obviously is winning this group, and most likely winning each game with ease. After Brazil, there’s not really a clear second team. Mexico looked awful in the World Cup qualifying, but have potential to make it out of group play. Croatia is not very promising in my eyes. They have a basic attack and a weak back line, with the only consistent position being midfield. Cameroon has the best chance to advance (excluding Brazil) despite having a rather weak roster. They have some impressive results as of late, such as their 2-2 draw with Germany and 1-0 win over Moldova. They’re playing their best football right now and I have them winning over Mexico to advance.

Group B

1) Spain – 7 points

2) Netherlands – 5 points

3) Chile – 4 points

4) Australia – 0 points

First off let’s all realize that Australia will not win a game. I don’t think they have a chance with these teams. I have Spain beating Chile in addition to Australia, and drawing with Netherlands to take the top spot. There’s way too much talent on that roster to not come out with at least a couple victories. I also think the Netherlands will be able to hold off Chile in the final game of their group play to advance. I doubt Chile will be able to hold off Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben for 90 minutes.

Group C

1) Colombia – 7 points

2) Ivory Coast – 5 points

3) Japan – 4 points

4) Greece – 0 points

This is one of my most anticipated groups since there’s no clarity as to what will happen. Colombia is going to be the best team, and Greece is the weakest of the bunch. But anything can happen… Japan has a strong midfield and a decent attack and defense. If they get their chances they’ll capitalize, and they can just as easily come out of group play as Ivory Coast. However I have Ivory Coast moving on alongside Colombia due to their speed and athleticism. Their defense is lacking but one thing is for sure, they will get their scoring chances. Lastly, don’t sleep on Greece; they may be able to scrounge out a win and give themselves a chance of advancing.

Group D

1) Uruguay – 7 points

2) Italy – 6 points

3) England – 4 points

4) Costa Rica – 0 points

I feel bad for Costa Rica; they face such a tough draw. Anything can happen with the other three teams, so no prediction is safe. I have all 3 teams beating Costa Rica. Other than that, I have Italy beating England and losing to Uruguay, and Uruguay drawing with England. Now, this is all assuming that Louis Suarez is healthy. If he isn’t healthy, I’ll take Italy and England to advance in this ridiculously competitive group.

Group E

1) France – 9 points

2) Ecuador – 4 points

3) Switzerland – 2 points

4) Honduras – 1 point

France is going to cruise, drawing perhaps the weakest pool in the tournament. Honduras will prove limited competition to even Switzerland, and Ecuador is the next best team with Manchester United’s Antonio Valencia on their side. I think Ecuador will squeak their way through group play, but don’t expect much more after that, since they don't play nearly as well away from home.

Group F

1) Argentina – 9 points

2) Nigeria – 6 points

3) Bosnia-Herzegovina – 3 points

4) Iran – 0 points

Iran doesn’t exactly pose a big threat to these three teams, and no one poses much of a threat to Argentina. They should easily walk their way to 9 points and a bid to the knockout round. Now the one game in this group that should be interesting is Nigeria and Bosnia-Herzegovina. I’m really looking forward to this matchup. Both teams are dangerous, despite being inconsistent. Both squads have a handful of exciting players, and I feel as if this will be one of the more exciting matches in all of group play. These two play on June 21, at 6:00 pm. I suggest you all tune in, and I think Nigeria will come out on top in a tight contest.

Group G

1) Germany – 7 points

2) Ghana – 4 points

3) Portugal – 2 points

4) United States – 1 point

Well folks, here it is. This is one of the most competitive groups I’ve ever been around to see, with 4 quality clubs, and a few are even capable of dealing severe damage in the knockout round. Unfortunately, the United States got the toughest draw in the tournament. Germany is a team that’s capable of winning it all. Portugal has Ronaldo, and if you have Ronaldo you have a great chance of going far. Then there’s Ghana, who’s beaten the US quite frequently. I think Germany will come out on top, with wins over the US and Ghana, and a draw with Portugal. I think Ghana will beat the US once again, and draw with Portugal. With all things considered, I’m not sure of these picks at all. Any of these teams can win on any given day, even the US (although I highly doubt it). Anything can happen with this group. I do believe that Germany and Ghana will advance, but how they do so is unclear to me. Now I’ll admit, there’s a slight bias in my belief that Ghana will advance rather than Portugal, I just really like them, and I think they should have advanced even further in 2010. With that being said, Ghana has a loaded roster, headed by Asamoah Gyan up front, with an excellent supporting cast of Michal Essien and Sully Muntari in the midfield. Also look for a monster performance from Kevin Prince-Boateng. As long as they capitalize on chances (and not miss penalty kicks, cough-cough Asamoah Gyan, cough-cough) they will be fine.

Group H

1) Belgium – 7 points

2) South Korea – 6 points

3) Russia – 4 points

4) Algeria – 0 points

Finally, Group H. I honestly don’t know a whole lot here. I’m not familiar with many of these teams. However I enough to say that Belgium will come out on top, and Algeria has the smallest chance of advancing. Vincent Kompany is sick, and I think he and Eden Hazard is what separates Belgium from the rest of the group. I think they’ll beat South Korea and Algeria. Another thing that I know is that whenever I see South Korea play, they gut it out. They just stick around and wait for their chances, and have a well-balanced squad. They are also coached well, which is big for them since they aren’t the most skilled squad that you’ll find. Even with a loss to Belgium, I think they’ll advance a huge win over Russia to start their tournament, and a win over Algeria as well.  Russia will pick up a win over Algeria, but that will be it for them. I really like South Korea advancing for the second straight world cup.

NBA Finals: Game 2 Recap

Miami Heat fans need to be scared, along with the team itself. The San Antonio Spurs played bad basketball for the final 3 quarters of that game, and still should have won. Even with LeBron’s dominating performance, and a stellar game coming from Chris Bosh, the Heat only won by 2. For anyone who was watching, the Heat weren’t making many mistakes. The Spurs were making a lot of them, and I’m not talking about turnovers. The Spurs shot 44% from the field and 60% from the line, compared to Miami shooting 53% from the field and 76% from the line.

First issue with game 2 was the Spurs offense. In the first and third quarters they were doing what they do best; move the ball. Tony Parker found every opening there was to find in the first quarter, and all 5 players were playing smart. They were staying spaced, dumping it into the post, and displaying that unbelievable interior passing of theirs. When the post wasn’t open, they would kick it out for a jumper. For the second and fourth quarter, they were forcing mid-range jumpers with 15 seconds left on the shot clock. They weren’t running through their motions, and it allowed LeBron to get going. You cannot play your game for 24 minutes and hope to beat the Heat. Not with LeBron playing like he was last night.

He went off in the third quarter. After relentlessly pounding the paint in the first half, he started burying jumpers on every possession. It was at that “Give LeBron the ball and let him do whatever he wants” point. And when LeBron gets in those grooves, you can’t hope to prevent it, or even contain it. You kind of just have to wait until he cools off, and do your best to match it on the other end. You can’t double because the other four players are perfectly spaced on the court, and LeBron would find the open man for a wide-open three.

Now let’s talk about Chris Bosh. He was the key to success, in my mind, for Miami last night. He started off shooting 3-3 from the field; all on drives to the basket. No jumpers. He was being assertive, rather than waiting for a kick-out pass from Wade or LeBron for a jump shot, which is what he did all game 1. He was still staying spaced, allowing for Wade and LeBron to drive, but he wasn’t taking stupid shots. He didn’t take a jumper until late in the second half, and he eventually hit that huge 3 to give the Heat a two point lead with 1:17 to go. Then he sealed the deal on a beautiful bounce pass to Wade with 9 seconds to go to put them up 5. He finished with 18 points, 3 boards, 2 dimes, a steal and a block. His numbers weren’t all that impressive, but as we all know numbers don’t mean everything.

So the Heat outplayed the Spurs, we know that. But what I also know is that the officiating was horrific. All game it was brutal, and it showed down the stretch. I’m honestly tempted to go back and watch the game and document how many bad calls there were, for both sides. I’m fine with letting it be physical early on, to get the game going. But for God sakes the refs were still calling it the same way in the third quarter! Duncan and Splitter were getting beaten up down low, and LeBron actually got fouled on a handful of shots and it wasn’t called. And even though each team recorded 20 fouls, there should have been a whole lot more on Miami, and a little bit less on San Antonio.

The foul on a three point shot has been called over 60 times in these playoffs, an NBA record. Danny Green wasn’t allowed to land on two of his threes last night, yet nothing was called. It would only be two free throws, but it would have meant Rashard Lewis would have finished with 5 fouls rather than 3. Another play that stuck out to me was the Kawhi Leonard “charge” on LeBron. First off, Lewis got Leonard on the arm before the charging call. Basically, Lewis shouldn’t have been on the court for nearly as long, and that would have hurt. Now to the charging part. Leonard was already airborne before LeBron slid in and got set. Therefore it’s impossible for that to have been a charge, and either the officials somehow didn’t see it, or they were being generous to LeBron. Either way, it kept Lewis on the court and it took Kawhi Leonard off, and it was in the third quarter. Here’s yet another example of how the refs helped the Heat. Danny Green was straight up defending Dwyane Wade. He jumped. Wade pump faked. Green came down, still straight as could be. He landed, and Wade threw his body sideways. Green, still straight up, absorbed the contact, stumbled backwards, and Wade threw a wild shot up. It resulted in two made free throws. The fact that Wade, who’s such a great player, needs to resort to cheap plays like this makes me sick, especially since he could have easily dribbled through to the paint.

Another Dwyane Wade call that I freaked out about was the Ginobili “foul.” Wade caught the ball 5 feet outside the arc and Ginobili took a swipe at the ball. He missed completely, yet Dwyane Wade jolted his head back and stumbled a bit. Those damn invisible force fields… The refs called a foul on Ginobili, and it forced Ginobili to sit down with 3 fouls. Ginobili, by the way, just scored 7 points prior to that foul.

All of those calls were pivotal, but they don’t compare to the one play that changed the game. This play, oddly enough was called correctly. The play I’m referring to is the Mario Chalmers baseline drive, where he elbowed Tony Parker in the ribs (Just for the record, I have always strongly disliked Chalmers). I am still baffled as to how a player can be dribbling full speed, looking for an outlet, and stop to think to throw an intentional elbow into the side of another player. Like seriously? People wonder why I don’t respect Chalmers game; it’s because of plays like these (I applaud the refs for originally calling it a flagrant just so they could review it, in order to get the call right). What made me even angrier was watching Chalmers run his foolish mouth to the official after the review! They made the right call at first, reviewed it, saw you throw a clear elbow that wasn’t even close to being a basketball move, and you’re still talking? It’s just unbelievable to me. Anyways, Tony Parker clearly wasn’t right after that. For the final 6 minutes he was slower, and settled for jumpers rather than attacking the basket like he normally does. Once he missed those free throws short I knew he was still feeling it, and so did Pop as he took him out. Trust me from experience; blows to the ribs are crippling, and tough to take your mind off.

Duncan missed two free throws after Parker, and that led to a LeBron three-pointer, and the Spurs didn’t look the same since, getting outscored 13-9 from that point on, and that includes the garbage three from Ginobili at the very end of the game.

Basically, that series of events with Chalmers and Parker is what turned the game around, and I give credit to the Heat for capitalizing. And I’m not going to be ignorant and say the Spurs lost because of officiating, because there were bad calls both ways, and because I know more than enough to say with confidence that the Spurs didn’t play well enough to win. The Heat played a great game, but they need to be wary. Only winning by two points is scary considering that the Spurs only played 24 minutes of quality basketball.

Mark my words; the Spurs will not play that bad again, and Heat will have to play a whole lot better if they want to win this series.