2014 World Cup Preview

The time has arrived. Every four years, the best soccer players from around the world gather on a grand stage to determine who really is the best in the world. The 20th World Cup gets set to take over Brazil. Over the next month, 32 teams will play a total of 64 games to see who can get their hands on that beautiful gold trophy. This marks the 2nd time that Brazil has held the tournament. The last time, which was in 1950, a mere 13 countries showed up to participate and coverage among media outlets around the world was weak and sporadic. Now, here in 2014, there are 32 teams playing and coverage is going to be off the charts.

Most experts will contend that Brazil and Spain are figured to be the real heavy favorites to come out of this tournament. Spain, who is the defending World Cup Champions, are favored to do something that hasn't been done in 52 years, win back to back World Cups. They are coming into the tournament as the top ranked team, according to FiFA. Sergio Ramos is the best player on this team. Spain will need Ramos on his game, and they’ll need him to keep his cool as well. He’s always been a player with a short fuse, and he has a knack for picking up red cards, having set the La Liga record for career dismissals earlier in the year. To win it all, La Furia Roja will need less fury and more focus from Ramos.

As for Brazil, the host country, they have a lot of pressure on them to really be able to perform. They are ranked 3rd in this tournament by FIFA, and Brazil will either win or be judged to have failed. If Brazil can pull off the victory here, it can finally put to bed the ghost of the 1950 tournament. Brazil have talent all over the pitch, but the 22-year-old Barcelona forward, that being their star player Neymar, is the attacking, improvisational genius that alchemizes a good side into a great one. At least, that's the theory. At his best, Neymar is a tricky-footed runner with the ball, a calm and precise finisher, an excellent free-kick taker, and is blessed with an uncanny ability to slice through defenses at speed. At his best, in other words, he is terrifying. Lets put it this way, Neymar is to soccer what Lebron James is to the NBA and Sidney Crosby is to the NHL, he is that good from what I've been hearing.

If both of those teams hold up, they should be facing off in the finals.

There is one other nation that a lot of people have been saying to watch out for, that being Argentina. A lot of people have been predicting them to get to the finals, if noting else, be a substantial improvement to their 2010 campaign, when Argentina found themselves humiliated by Germany in the quarterfinals. For Argentina to move on and do well in this tournament, they need to rely on, hands down, their best player Lionel Messi. Yes, Argentina have enough firepower that they'll be able to threaten without the inclusion of the Barcelona forward. But to make a deep run in the tournament, the albiceleste will need Messi to be at the top of his game. Should opponents elect to play deep, doing their best to keep Argentina from scoring, they'll need Messi to unlock the attack. That much was obvious against Romania, when the star wasn't at his best (literally vomiting all over the pitch) and Argentina labored to a lucky draw.

Those are the three nations that I can really see making a lot of loud noise in this tournament. As for the United States, well, it doesn't really look too good for this tournament.

The United States gets a tough draw in Group G. They are in the group with Germany, Portugal and Ghana. Germany is the 2nd ranked team in this tournament, and are going to be a very tough team to beat. The United States really doesn't have much to work with. Last time around, it was only a late goal that stopped them from advancing to the quarterfinals. But they won’t have much chance to improve on that performance, especially given the unsettled nature of their defense. Instead, this trip to Brazil will likely have fans flashing back to 2006, when the U.S. finished bottom of their group, collecting just one point. It’s not to say this is a poor squad, just that they’ve been drawn in a difficult group — and with eyes seemingly on 2018 rather than 2014, these games may be more about teachable moments than anything else.

Coach Jürgen Klinsmann was brought in to try and turn around the luck of the National Team. He made some big changes to this team, leaving the likes of Landon Donovan, Julian Green and Brad Davis, off the roster, which had a lot of people really scratching their heads. Klinsmann is trying to change up the attack for this soccer club, with the team that are more ambitious and like to keep the ball. Whether they can play like that against sides of the quality of Germany or Portugal and still take points remains to be seen.

The United States aren’t a bad team, but it's no insult to say they have the fourth-most talented squad in their group. Tim Howard and Clint Dempsy are going to be the key pieces for this team if they expect to try and make any noise in this tournament.

It was stated in an earlier interview that coach Klinsmann was getting the team ready for the next World Cup, which is in Russia in 2018! Not a bad idea, but here's a bright idea. Make sure your team is ready to go with this years tournament. If the United States gets caught overlooking this tournament, they will no doubt end up in the basement again.

Here's the schedule for the United States:
JUN. 16 6:00 PM GHANA
JUN. 22 6:00 PM PORTUGAL
JUN. 26 12:00 PM GERMANY

It would be a bigtime statement if, somehow, the United States can make it out of this group and go on a deep run in this tournament.

The time has arrived, the tournament is now underway, and the whole world will be sitting back and watching the excitement that will be taking place over the next month!