2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ Official Book
9. Germany – Portugal 4-0: The team without forwards scored 4 times. Portugal has been the most unfortunate team so far, getting wrong decisions from the referee, loss of two players in resulrt of injuries, and having a mad teammate as Pepe.
Defence: 1,5 – 0,5
Midfield: 2 – 0,5
Attack: 1,5 – 0,5
Interplay: 2 - 0TOTAL: 7 – 1,5
13. Mueller (GER) – 2
18. Kroos (GER) – 1,5
6. Khedira (GER) – 1
9. Schuerrle (GER) – 0,5
7. Ronaldo (POR) – 0,5
8. Iran – Nigeria 0-0: What a great commitment, together with positioning and strength shown by Calos Quiroz’s Iran! Lack of attacking abilities in both teams brought the irst draw in this World Cup.
Defence: 2 – 0,5Midfield: 1 – 0,5
Attack: 0 – 0,5
Interplay: 1 – 0
TOTAL: 4 – 1,5
14. Andranik (IRI) – 1,523. Mehrdad (IRI) – 1,5
4. Hoseini (IRI) – 1
16. Reza (IRI) – 0,5
7. Ghana - USA 1-2: Very intriguing beginning and end to the match, where Americans scored the 5th fastest goal in the World Cup history. Ghana can blame itself for many missed chances.
Defence: 0,5 - 0,5
Midfield: 1 - 1
Attack: 0,5 - 0,5
Interplay: 0,5 - 0,5
TOTAL: 3,5 - 3,5
3. Gyan (GHA) - 1
13. Jones (USA) - 1
1. Howard (USA) - 0,5
11. Muntari (GHA) - 0,5
6. For a very long period of time Belgium has been on the lips of many experts, who predict a crashing welcome for the ”Red Devills”. After missing 2 World Cups, Belgium took their time to grow a great bunch of talented players, to gather and show some fine football under the charge of Marc Wilmots. Atletico Madrid’s great goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, just turned 22, will take part in his first major tournament. He is going to be accompanied by Kompany, Vertonghen and Vermaelen, all playing in top clubs of Premier League. Axel Witsel, Eden Hazard and Marouane Fellaini are some of the great midfielders in the squad, while Romelu Lukaku is the best striker of Belgium. Christian Benteke of Aston Villa and Radja Nainggolan of Roma are not in Brazil for some different reasons. This is probably the team, which the whole world has been waiting for to watch, with some of the future European top players. Manchester United’s Adnan Januzaj is the youngest of all – only 19. The question is whether all these young stars are ready for some fancy interplay or they require some more time. Their first match is against Algeria.
5. Algerians have got a lot of players with great experience in top European Leagues. The former AC Milan player Djamel Mesbah and the Napoli rising star Faouzi Ghoulam will be cementing the defence, Valencia's Sofiane Feghouli and Udinese's Hassan Yebda are the best midfielders to support Islam Slimani of Sporting Lisbon and Nabil Ghilas of Porto. The potential breakthrough of the tournament could be Tottenham’s Nabil Bentaleb or Internazionale's Saphir Taider, 19 and 22 years old respectively. The captain Madjid Bougherra is the most capped player in the current squad, having played over 60 matches for his national team. The head coach is Vahid Halilhodzic from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
4. Brazil will have a chance to concentrate on making the home fans happy, rather than on earning points. The starting nervousness has gone, and, as expected, Scolari’s team is going to improve match after match.
3. After a well-deserved win over Cameroon, Herrera’s side will now look to improve their pole position before the last decisive match against Croatia. A point against Brazil would be perfect.
2. The next hosts of World Cups usually put together young teams, hoping to gain some experience and prepare for a great home tournament. Russia’s Italian coach Fabio Capello has taken some young talented players from the home league, but it is not a fact that many of them will have a huge impact on the team’s performance. Other than the well-established CSKA Moskva-man Alan Dzagoev, there are not too many, having a guaranteed place within the starting line-up. Though the new generation representatives like Oleg Shatov, Zenith, and Aleksandr Kokorin, Dinamo Moskva, might be worth to watch by scouts from abroad. As for now, all the 23 players make their money in the home league. After Roman Shirokov’s injury, the team can be built around Igor Denisov, having a goalkeeper like Igor Akinfeev controlling the defence, and Aleksandr Kerzhakov, bringing the goals. The era of Guus Hiddink’s stars Andrei Arshavin, Roman Pavlyuchenko and many others is a history now. Let’s see what Capello’s era has got to offer.
1. The last team to introduce is South Korea, with the coach Hong Myung-Bo, the legendary captain of that South Korea 2002 team and the most capped player in the country’s history. The home World Cup has helped a lot in establishing a new generation fond of football. Ten players of the current 23-man squad represent either the German or the English leagues. Unfortunately, one of the most talented young defenders of the country, Hoffenheim’s Kim Jin-Su, will not be in Brazil due to an injury, and the former Manchester United star Park Ji-Sung doesn’t play for his national team any more. So it is time for Ki Sung-Yueng, Swansea, Koo Ja-Cheol, Mainz, and Son Heung-Min to impress the world.Heung-Min is only 21 years old and has been a regular man for Bayer Leverkusen this year. He is the youngest and most promising player in South Korea. The Official 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ Fact File
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