World Cup 2014 Group F Analysis

In a World Cup having a relatively "easy" group can often help a good team get into their groove and gradually improve until they hit top form in the latter stages of the tournament. On the other hand, it can also have negative effects when a team gets too complacent, is surprised by the quality of the opposition and is eliminated much earlier than expected. Argentina has had the pleasure of experiencing both of these extremes in the past. In 1986 they had a fairly easy group and advanced to the knockout stages, Maradona got stronger and stronger as the tournament went on and they were crowned champions. In 2002 however, going into the tournament as favourites and being drawn in a group they were expected to get through from comfortably, they were eliminated. This time around they once again find themselves in a relatively "easy" group which consists of Bosnia, Iran and Nigeria.

Australia 1 - 1 South Africa

Australia took on South Africa last night at ANZ stadium as more than 50000 people turned up to farewell the Socceroos before they depart for Brazil. Unfortunately a shaky performance and an underwhelming result left more questions than answers by full time. One thing is for sure, there is still a lot of work left to do before our first World Cup group match. Brazil 2014 will undoubtedly be our toughest World Cup tournament to date. Here's my analysis and thoughts after last night's match...

World Cup 2014 Team Kits

Here are all 32 team kits for the 2014 World Cup...

World Cup 2014 Team Lists

Keep up to date with all the World Cup squads here...

World Cup 2014 Group E Analysis

Group E is yet another tough group that is difficult to predict, in this World Cup there are few groups that are straight forward. Group E contains Switzerland, who are one of the strange top seeds, Ecuador, France and Honduras. This group has a great variety of footballing styles, which contrast each other. There are now only 51 days until the start of the 2014 World Cup, lets see what Group E has to offer...

World Cup 2014: Group D Detailed Analysis

The unusual seedings for the 2014 World Cup resulted in very unbalanced groups. We will see some very strong teams playing against each other in the early stages of the tournament and many people say that there is no clear "group of death". However, if I had to choose one group that stands out as the strongest and most unpredictable it would have to be Group D. Three out of the four teams in Group D are former World Cup champions who are all in fairly good form. The group contains Uruguay, Costa Rica, England and Italy.

World Cup 2014: Group C Detailed Analysis

As I write this there are only 78 days until World Cup 2014 kicks off and we continue to preview all the groups. Group C offers a great variety of regions and footballing styles, it contains Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast and Japan. There is plenty of quality in this group but also great uncertainty. It seems that all four teams in Group C have high hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages.

A Tale Of Two Halves: Socceroos 3 - 4 Ecuador

Excuse me for being cliche but this morning's friendly between the Socceroos and Ecuador was truly a game of two halves. The Socceroos didn't have the best preparation heading into the match, their first training session in London earlier in the week had to be cancelled due to heavy rain and the team was hampered by injuries to key players. The limited preparation meant that we didn't know what to expect from the Socceroos but hopes have been at an all time high since Ange took over. Ecuador were very strong throughout the Sth. American World Cup qualifiers finishing 4th in a very tough campaign. However, they are a team in transition and still figuring out their strongest lineup to lead them in Brazil 2014. The match was played at Millwall's home ground "The New Den".