One of the great international sporting events will take place down in Brazil during the month of June in 2014. Like the Olympics, the Soccer World Cup Competition takes place only once every four years and is open to entries from around the world.
Thirty two teams have qualified for the big event that is widely considered to be one of the top destinations for avid sports fans from all points of the globe. Of course, the sport is only known as Soccer in the United States. To the rest of the world it is Football or perhaps Futbol but, it ain’t called Soccer.
In alphabetical order the qualifying teams are: Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Croatia, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, Iran, Italy, Japan, Korea Republic, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Uruguay and the United States of America.
After many years of not even making the tourney, the USA team at 50-to-1 this time around is strong and expected to make a very good showing down in Brazil.
In fact the US finished first in the CONCACAF qualifying rounds with 22 points followed by Costa Rica with 18, Honduras with 15 and Mexico with 11. All four teams will be going to Brazil in June to represent their respective countries.
As expected, the host Brazil team will go into the World Cup Competitions as 5-to-2 favorites. Germany is the current second choice at 9-to-2 with Argentina dropping to 5-to-1 which ties them for third place with reigning World Cup Champion Spain.
The top contenders are closely followed by Belgium at 12-to-1 with the Netherlands and Italy tied at 15-to-1 each. The French National Team just barely made it to Brazil by defeating the Ukraine, moved from 30-to-1 down to 25-to-1.
Another big odds move was made by the team from Portugal when their superstar Cristiano Ronaldo propelled them past Sweden and shortened their odds from 40-to-1 way down to 25-to-1. Croatia is listed at 100-to-1 and Greece at 200-to-1.
Historically, Brazil leads all countries with 5 World Cup Titles followed by Italy with 4, Germany with 3, Argentina and Uruguay with two apiece and one victory each to England, France and last year’s winners Spain.
On December 6th, the 32 qualifying teams will be divided into eight groups by the luck of the draw. Belgium, Colombia, Switzerland, Uruguay, Spain, Argentina, Germany and Brazil are top seeds and cannot be placed in the same grouping.
