2014 FIFA World Cup - Brazil

[scarletmike]

Oh, big surprise, the system can be conveniently turned off if they think its accuracy isn't correct. That's really going to help...

 

[VBSJ]

Oh, big surprise, the system can be conveniently turned off if they think its accuracy isn't correct. That's really going to help...

Well, how else are they going to cover the "UNDER" in a Portugal-Togo match

Oh, that was in? The system shut off. - Official from Bali in 2014

 

[Steve19]

The allegations here are that FIFA are sleezeballs. Several stories broke, which included match fixing. When the SA government said that they would investigate, FIFA warned them to allow FIFA to investigate itself.

Newspapers report that the Minister of Sport flew to Europe to see FIFA and personally tell them that the investigation has begun and will be pursued to its logical end.

Personally, I have no respect for FIFA at all.

 

[Mac]

The allegations here are that FIFA are sleezeballs. Several stories broke, which included match fixing. When the SA government said that they would investigate, FIFA warned them to allow FIFA to investigate itself.

Newspapers report that the Minister of Sport flew to Europe to see FIFA and personally tell them that the investigation has begun and will be pursued to its logical end.

Personally, I have no respect for FIFA at all.

This kind of crap has been ongoing for a while IMO, and anyone who says differently doesnt follow much soccer. FIFA is one of the most corrupt sports organizations there is

 

[VBSJ]

This kind of crap has been ongoing for a while IMO, and anyone who says differently doesnt follow much soccer. FIFA is one of the most corrupt sports organizations there is

"A while" being decades (if not more).

Remember when the English press broke all those stories about the corrupt FIFA executives/officials just prior to the naming of the hosts of World Cup 2018 and 2022? FIFA responded by calling the English press "evil", rather than looking inward and seeing their organization as corrupt (and England didn't get World Cup 2018, perhaps unrelated).

FIFA and the IOC are the same (in their corruption).

 

[VBSJ]

First phase of World Cup tickets go onsale in August, announced Wednesday.

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid=2086283/index.html

 

[Smudger]

Updated Standings

AFC (Asia)

Japan has qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Top two teams from each group automatically qualify (Japan is one). Third place teams in each group will play each other in a home & away series, with the winner playing the fifth place team from CONMEBOL (South America) in a home & away series, with the winner qualifying.

Group A (Eight qualifying matches total)

1. South Korea - 11 pts (Six games played, +6 goal differential)
2. Uzbekistan - 11 pts (Six games played, +2 goal differential)
3. Iran - 10 pts (Six games played)
4. Qatar - 7 pts (Seven games played)
5. Lebanon - 5 pts (Seven games played, Eliminated from qualifying)

Note: Final qualifying matches will be concluded on June 18th.

Group B (Eight qualifying matches total)

1. Japan - 14 pts (Qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup)
2. Oman - 9 pts (Seven games played)
3. Australia - 7 pts (Six games played, even goal differential)
4. Jordan - 7 pts (Six games played, -6 goal differential)
5. Iraq - 5 pts (Six games played)

Note: Final qualifying matches will be concluded on June 18th.

CAF (Africa)

Currently in the Second Round of qualifying. Winners of each of the ten groups will advance to the third & final round of qualifying. Ten group winners will play in five home & away series knockout ties with the five winners all qualifying.

Note: Second Round qualifying concludes on September 6th.

Group A (Through four of six games)

1. Ethiopia - 10 pts
2. South Africa - 8 pts
3. Central African Republic - 3 pts (Eliminated from qualifying)
4. Botswana - 1 pt (Eliminated from qualifying)

Group B (Through four of six games)

1. Tunisia - 10 pts
2. Sierra Leone - 5 pts
3. Equatorial Guinea - 4 pts
4. Cape Verde - 3 pts (Eliminated from qualifying)

Group C (Through four of six games)

1. Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) - 10 pts
2. Tanzania - 6 pts
3. Morocco - 5 pts
4. Gambia - 1 pt (Eliminated from qualifying)

Group D (Through four of six games)

1. Zambia - 10 pts
2. Ghana - 9 pts
3. Lesotho - 2 pts (Eliminated from qualifying)
4. Sudan - 1 pt (Eliminated from qualifying)

Group E (Through four of six games)

1. Congo - 10 pts
2. Burkina Faso - 6 pts
3. Gabon - 4 pts
4. Niger -3 pts (Eliminated from qualifying)

Group F (Through four of six games)

1. Nigeria - 8 pts
2. Malawi - 6 pts
3. Namibia -4 pts
4. Kenya - 2 pts (Eliminated from qualifying)

Group G (Through four of six games)

1. Egypt - 12 pts
2. Guinea - 7 pts
3. Mozambique - 2 pts (Eliminated from qualifying)
4. Zimbabwe - 1 pt (Eliminated from qualifying)

Group H (Through four of six games)

1. Algeria - 9 pts
2. Mali - 7 pts
3. Benin - 4 pts
4. Rwanda - 2 pts (Eliminated from qualifying)


Group I (Through four of six games)

1. Libya - 6 pts (+1 goal differential)
2. Cameroon - 6 pts (-1 goal differential)
3. Congo DR - 5 pts
4. Togo - 4 pts


Group J (Through four of six games)

1. Senegal - 6 pts
2. Uganda - 5 pts
3. Angola - 4 pts (Even goal differential)
4. Liberia -4 pts (-1 goal differential)

CONCACAF (North America)

Top three teams qualify, while the 4th place team will play New Zealand in a home & away series, with the winner qualifying.

(Ten qualifying games total)

1. Costa Rica - 7 pts (Four games played, +2 goal differential)
2. United States - 7 pts (Four games played, +1 goal differential)
3. Mexico - 7 pts (Five games played, +1 goal differential)
4. Panama - 6 pts (Four games played)
5. Honduras - 4pts (Four games played)
6. Jamaica - 2 pts (Five games played)

CONMEBOL (South America)

Brazil automatically qualified as the host nation. Top four teams automatically qualify. Fifth place will play a home & away series with the fifth place team from AFC (Asia).

(Sixteen total qualifying games total)

1. Argentina - 25 pts (12 games played)
2. Colombia - 20 pts (11 games played, +12 goal differential)
3. Ecuador - 20 pts (11 games played, +5 goal differential)
4. Chile - 18 pts (12 games played)
5. Venezuela - 16 pts (12 games played)
6. Peru - 14 pts (11 games played)
7. Uruguay - 13 pts (11 games played)
8. Bolivia 10 pts (12 games played)
9. Paraguay - 8 pts (12 games played)

OFC (Oceania)

New Zealand advanced to a home & away series with the fourth place team from CONCACAF (North America), with the winner qualifying.


UEFA (Europe)

Nine group winners automatically qualify, while the eight best group runners-up will play in four home & away series to determine the last four teams to qualify.

Group A (Ten qualifying games total)

1. Belgium - 19 pts (Seven games played)
2. Croatia - 16 pts (Seven games played)
3. Serbia - 7 pts (Seven games played)
4. Wales - 6 pts (Six games played)
5. Scotland - 5 pts (Eliminated from qualifying)
6. Macedonia - 4 pts (Six games played)

Group B (Ten qualifying games total)

1. Italy - 14 pts (Six games played)
2. Bulgaria - 10 pts (Six games played)
3. Czech Republic - 9 pts (Six games played)
4. Denmark - 6 pts (Five games played)
5. Armenia - 3 pts (Five games played)
6. Malta - 3 pts (Six games played)

Group C (Ten qualifying games total)

1. Germany - 16 pts (Six games played)
2. Austria - 11 pts (Six games played, +10 goal differential)
3. Ireland - 11 pts (Six games played, +2 goal differential)
4. Sweden - 8 pts (Five games played)
5. Kazakhstan - 1 pt (Six games played)
6. Faroe Islands - 0 pts (Five games played)

Group D (Through six of ten games played)

1. Netherlands - 18 pts
2. Hungary - 11 pts
3. Romania - 10 pts
4. Turkey - 7 pts
5. Estonia - 6 pts
6. Andorra - 0 pts

Group E (Through six of ten games played)

1. Switzerland - 14 pts
2. Albania - 10 pts
3. Iceland - 9 pts
4. Norway - 8 pts
5. Slovenia - 6 pts
6. Cyprus - 4 pts

Group F (Ten qualifying games total)

1. Portugal - 14 pts (Seven games played)
2. Russia - 12 pts (Five games played)
3. Israel - 11 pts (Six games played)
4. Azerbaijan - 4 pts (Seven games played)
5. Northern Ireland - 3 pts (Five games played)
6. Luxembourg - 3 pts (Six games played)

Group G (Through six of ten games played)

1. Bosnia and Herzegovina - 16 pts
2. Greece - 13 pts
3. Slovakia - 9 pts
4. Lithuania - 5 pts
5. Latvia - 4 pts
6. Liechtenstein - 2 pts

Group H (Ten qualifying games total)

1. Montenegro - 14 pts (Seven games played)
2. England - 12 pts (Six games played)
3. Ukraine - 11 pts (Six games played)
4. Poland - 9 pts (Six games played)
5. Moldova - 5 pts (Seven games played)
6. San Marino - 0 pts (Eliminated from qualifying)

Group I (Eight total qualifying games)

1. Spain - 11 pts (Five games played)
2. France - 10 pts (Five games played)
3. Finland - 5 pts (Four games played)
4. Georgia - 4 pts (Five games played)
5. Belarus - 3 pts (Five games played)

 

[OHSportsFan]

Booked my trip.

Iiii am going to Braziiilll!

 

[Mac]

Booked my trip.

Iiii am going to Braziiilll!

Lucky...enjoy your trip. That will be a blast!

 

[Dee-Liem]

Booked my trip.

Iiii am going to Braziiilll!

Go to ESPN's set in Rio at Clube dos Marimbas and find three other people to make the O-H-I-O behind their glass studio facing the beach.

 

[Merih]

Booked my trip.

Iiii am going to Braziiilll!

Congrats that's awesome!


I'm also interested in going...did you book through an agent? Or did you figure out all the details for yourself?

 

[ScriptOhio]

Booked my trip.

Iiii am going to Braziiilll!

Just sayin': In case you don't have one, you'll need a Brazilian visa (which can be an expensive hassle to obtain).

Be sure to let us know how the girl(s) from Ipanema (beach) are:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NldPFVKYmiw"]Frank Sinatra - "The Girl From Ipanema" (Concert Collection) - YouTube[/ame]

:tongue2:

 

[TDunk]

Booked my trip.

Iiii am going to Braziiilll!

So jealous. Just have the phone ready for the ladies. And report back ASAP. Oh and U!S!A!

 

[OHSportsFan]

Lucky...enjoy your trip. That will be a blast!

Thanks!

Go to ESPN's set in Rio at Clube dos Marimbas and find three other people to make the O-H-I-O behind their glass studio facing the beach.

Will have at least 2 of us out of my group already. Sure we can find a couple more to complete this task.

Congrats that's awesome!


I'm also interested in going...did you book through an agent? Or did you figure out all the details for yourself?

Went through an agent, though it doesn't seem as though it'd have been that difficult to plan on our own. Agent just guarantees a hotel for us, which is tougher to do when it's a free-for-all in another month. It's a pretty bare-bones package (hotel, half-day guided tour one of the days, transportation to/from airport). Nothing we couldn't do on our own, but we were ready to get locked in. Just need a flight now.

Toughest decision was trying to figure out how many cities we wanted to do or if we wanted to 'Follow Team USA' type thing. Friends and I decided we'll stay on the lower end and just base camp it in Rio for a week for cheap and then use extra money as we see fit to travel to nearby cities for day trips (Sao Paulo, Brasilia)- hopefully on whatever high-speed rail system they have in place by next summer.

Only doing a week (June 13-20), as I don't have the money or vacation time to stay through the entire group stage, let alone the entire tournament.

Figured this was the best chance to ever see one (until it ever returns to US 2026?). Mid-20's age-wise. Relatively close. Amazing country. Don't care for Russia in 2018 or Qatar in 2022 (heck no...).

Crossing our fingers the US plays at least one game in/near Rio.

Just sayin': In case you don't have one, you'll need a Brazilian visa (which can be an expensive hassle to obtain).

Be sure to let us know how the girl(s) from Ipanema (beach) are:

Frank Sinatra - "The Girl From Ipanema" (Concert Collection) - YouTube

:tongue2:

This will definitely be on the 'To-Do' list.

The visa thing too...

So jealous. Just have the phone ready for the ladies. And report back ASAP. Oh and U!S!A!

Thanks man! Will check in as much as I can between (during?) my drunken adventures.

 

[Dee-Liem]

With the heavy protests in Brazil during the Confederations Cup these two weeks (over next summer's World Cup, the government and other things), the Brazilians are really going to like the Olympics in a few years.

Just over the past 20-25 years, normally the Olympics operate at a heavier cost or loss than hosting the World Cup.