Soccer - 2014 World Cup
 

Landon Donovan left out of US squad.
A surprise to some, but he's had a long and glorious run.

Klinsmann made the right choice, imo. :ThmbUp:
He has good strikers in Dempsey and Altidore,
with younger guys ready to take their shot.

13 days away.

ESP squad
 

Almost here!!! got any prediction my fine Gentlemen?

Brazil
 

Stating the obvious here, but Brazil have too much going for them.

It's their competition to lose, and things can go wrong.
If they do fall short, it will probably be Argentina that wins.

European teams have a tendency to falter in the southern hemisphere.
Germany is the best equipped to alter that trend.
I'd be surprised if any others, including Spain, step up.

Belgium is full of talent, though.
They will be a popular underdog with a chance.

Out of the 32 countries competing, at least half of them have no hope of winning the trophy.
They just aren't strong enough at that level.

Looking forward to a great World Cup.
There's never any shortage of drama and action.
Brazil 2014 won't be any exception.

On a personal note, I had around $175 coming off a place dividend on
Matt Kuchar in the Masters. Sent a friend into Ladbrokes near
Dublin, Ireland with instructions to let it ride on Brazil at 3-1.
So, I have action!

Current odds with SkyBet:

Argentina is my choice to win the World Cup

My sneaky longshot team was going to be Belgium, but I see they are 5th choice at only 18-1, so I guess that's not a longshot at all.

Argentina is loaded in the front seven, but have questions on the back line.
Di Maria is an underrated superstar player, who is overshadowed by Ronaldo and Bale on Real Madrid.
And of course there's Messi, who needs to take his place among the all time greats this year with the tournament so close to home. He still hasn't eclipsed Diego Maradona, and won't until he leads Argentina to a World Cup title.

The stage is set - this is the year.

Don't know if a Brazil v Argentina final is possible, but that game would be among the biggest ever in the sport.

espn.com
 

Here's a bit of fun before the competition starts.
Pick a bracket (like the NCAA tourney) at espn.com.
It's free to enter, and gives added interest.
Good luck!

http://games.espn.go.com/world-cup-b.../2014/en/entry

I'm ready!
 

Bad: my TiVo HDD died on me.

Good: I got a replacement HDD and was able to get it functioning again.

Bad: I lost a lot of programs for some binge sessions.

Good: A lot of those I expect will eventually be repeated, so, with a Wish List to record repeats, I eventually see these programs (season 1 & 2 of Orphan Black on BBC is an example.)

Bad: I lost all of the Jeopordy's including those for the women that is now over $500K in winnings.

Bad: I had poor timing putting the TiVo back into service. It was poor because Time Warner did a massive "rejigger" of their channel line up.

Bad: Even after multiple calls to TWC support, they could not get things configured so I could restart using my Tivo. Their Scientific Atlanta DVR worked just fine, but, getting back to a configuration I had just been using a few weeks prior, no way, Jose.

Good: The TWC service tech that showed up today, after consulting with the in house expert, was able to restore service. I'm one happy camper, now.

Good: I just completed the reprogramming of the TiVo to record those things I want to view.

OK, this is where it becomes relevant to the thread.

Best: the wish lists and season passes for the friendly's is chock-0-block full. And, the wish list for the FIFA qualifier matches looks like it's going to work as desired. It has picked up a couple of programs for the WC which are not live sports but preliminary discussions of matches.

:ThmbUp: :ThmbUp:

I say Brazil doesn't make it to the eight. I predict Germany will win.

España!!!

sorry boys Germany is taking it all!!!!! :cool:

I'm only going to say this once: Chile.

Elo Ratings
 

For those who wish to use ratings: World Cup Football Elo Ratings - halfway down the page (table 3).

John

Sorry to be ignorant, but, what am I looking at -- ELO?