THE FAVORITES, THE DARK HORSES AND THE UNDER DOGS OF 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP IN BRAZIL



 The world cup is full of surprises, no doubt. You can’t say for sure what’s going to happen. Every match day have its own peculiarity, but that’s the beauty of the game – its unpredictability! Many factors come to inter play to change the course of most games and shatter all predictions and all expectations.

Well, not as though its something that can’t be envisaged. Football pundits or even ordinary fan who follow the game closely could draw a simple linear graph and stake his whole life on it, that certain teams are likely to win 2014 world cup. The pattern is all there for you to see.  

Since 1930, when the world cup began, only nine countries had won the tournament and the trophy shared between South American and European continent for the past eighty-four years.

Intelligent reports such as FIFA World Ranking can give you an idea of what to expect during the mundial. Moreover, if you have records of each country’s performances over the past six months or so, then you could make some extrapolations of the countries that are likely to win 2014 world cup.

Most football experts consider the quality of individual players in a team and how they had competed in top flight clubs in the most recent UEFA Champions league or Europa cup. These are some of the factors we considered while voting the favorites, the dark horses and the underdogs.

Looking at some or all of the variables, the favorites are countries seen as most likely to 2014 world cup in Brazil.



Spain won the 2010 edition in South Africa and are still favored to win in Brazil. The reason being that 80% of their players competed majorly in the recent UEFA Champions league and two Spanish sides  – Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid played in  the finals. The country possess one of the best around players and perhaps, the most in form mask man.



Then Brazil, the host country and current champions of Confederations cup, is the second team favored to win 2014 World cup. Let’s see the list of the favorites:

The Favorites
  1. Spain                                       720/ 1000 Points
  2. Brazil                                       550/ 1000 Points
  3. Argentina                                530/ 1000 Points
  4. Germany                                 500/ 1000 Points
  5. Uruguay                                  410/ 1000 Points 
  6. Italy                                         400/ 1000 Points
  7. Portugal                                  320/ 1000 Points
  8. Netherlands                            280/ 1000 Points

The Dark Horses are countries that have the capacity to spring up surprises if competition goes well for them. They are regarded as outsiders that could also win the mundial - Belgium, Columbia, England, top countries in this category.

Belgium particularly, is the team to beat! The Belgians currently has crop of wonderful players, which is usually described as the golden generation - a very compact team that plays an enterprising football and has had some extraordinary run in past one year or so. 



Vincent Kompany, the Belgian and Manchester city captain reckons that the togetherness of the team, great attitude and positive believe in themselves to win 2014 world cup could work for them in Brazil.

The Dark Horses 

  1. Belgium                                               890/ 1000 Points
  2. Columbia                                             682/ 1000 Points
  3. England                                                600/ 1000 Points
  4. USA                                                     600/ 1000 Points 
  5. Russia                                                  580/ 1000 Points
  6. Cote d’Ivoire                                       490/ 1000 Points
  7. France                                                 420/ 1000 Points
  8. Croatia                                                350/ 1000 Points
  9. Ghana                                                  300/ 1000 Points
  10. Greece                                                  250/ 1000 Points

We all know is not every country that can win the world cup. Some countries just come to make up the numbers. These countries are regarded as underdogs of the mundial.



Surprisingly, the current African Champions, Nigeria, are regarded as one of the underdogs. Nigeria is currently placed 44th in FIFA World Ranking and the performances of the team recently haven’t been that impressive. Again, most of the Nigerian boys are infringe players in some European clubs and may not possess such capacity to compete favorably in Brazil.

The Under Dogs
  1. Nigeria                                     98/ 1000 Points
  2. Cameroon                               90/ 1000 Points
  3. Korea Republic                       86/ 1000 Points
  4. Japan                                       85/ 1000 Points
  5. Mexico                                     85/ 1000 Points
  6. Australia                                  85/ 1000 Points
  7. Switzerland                             80/ 1000 Points
  8. Bosnia – Herzegovina             75/ 1000 Points
  9. Iran                                          75/ 1000 Points
  10. Algeria                                      72/ 1000 Points
  11. Chile                                        70/ 1000 Points
  12. Ecuador                                   68/ 1000 Points
  13. Honduras                                 60/ 1000 Points
  14. Costa Rica                               55/ 1000 Points



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