2014 World Cup

[Zanza]

Right now, defense and midfield are a mix of old veterans of the 2006 campaign and young prospects - Buffon, Barzagli, Pirlo, De Rossi, Verratti, Marchisio are the top players;

Is Pirlo still at the top of his game?

[Josephus]

Don't forget:

http://www.pooltracker.com/join.asp?poolid=91653

It's possible to choose our options up to just before the start of the match, isn't it?

L.

Yes. Doesnt' hurt to place them in in case you forget, but yeah you can change them right till game time.

[MadBurgerMaker]

USA.  We have drone air support.

[dps]

If I had read the news first I could have taken Colombia out of the poll.

I've been buried in Danish politics all morning, why not Columbia anymore?

Injury.

Seems to be a lot of that going around.

[Pedrito]

Right now, defense and midfield are a mix of old veterans of the 2006 campaign and young prospects - Buffon, Barzagli, Pirlo, De Rossi, Verratti, Marchisio are the top players;

Is Pirlo still at the top of his game?

Yes, he's still in very good form, although not a young prospect anymore, being 34 y.o. Still, he's been playing as a deep lying playmaker for Juventus for the last three years, and led them to three back to back Serie A titles. Supported by a couple of good box-to-box midfielders, like Vidal and Pogba, he played a great season.

L.

[crazy canuck]

I didnt need 4 picks to get it right.  I only picked Brazil.

[Warspite]

It's a really long shot, but if Croatia get out of the group, then with the in-form players of Modric, Rakitic, Mandzukic and Kovacic, there's a unit capable of scoring a lot of goals, dominating possession and creating a few surprises.

What will happen, however, is a great (losing) performance against Brazil followed by incomprehensible capitulations to Mexico and Cameroon.

[FunkMonk]

Mexico are shit. Croatia should win. 

[mongers]

Choose your own world cup all-time greatest team:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-27699398

and have it rated against others, here's mine and yes I know I was biasing it towards attacking football:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-27699398#001016025023054069076071086103100

[sbr]

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/world-cup-2014-cristiano-ronaldo-injury-caused-by-ghanas-most-influential-witch-doctor-named-the-devil-of-wednesday-9491252.html

World Cup 2014: Cristiano Ronaldo injury 'caused' by Ghana's most influential witch doctor named the 'Devil of Wednesday'

The Portuguese FA have confirmed that Ronaldo is suffering from two injuries with Nana Kwaku Bonsam claiming he cursed the forward back in February

Cristiano Ronaldo's knee injury that has threatened his World Cup participation has been caused by Ghana's most influential witch doctor, it has been claimed.

Nana Kwaku Bonsam predicted earlier this year that the Ballon d'Or winner would miss the 2014 World Cup in Brazil due to injury. Having waited the best part of four months for the World Cup to come around, Bonsam's prediction suddenly appeared a very realistic one after the Portuguese FA confirmed that the Real Madrid forward has two separate injuries.

The statement confirmed that Ronaldo is suffering from tendinosis in his left knee, as well as a muscular problem in his left thigh. Having already missed Portugal's international friendly against Greece last weekend, he is expected to sit out the first of two World Cup warm-up friendlies against Mexico on Saturday, with his participation in the second fixture against the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday also in doubt.

With Ghana set to meet Portugal in their final Group G fixture on 26 June, Bonsam – whose name translates to the 'Devil of Wednesday' – claims to have conjured a special spirit from the gods using four dogs, several leaves and a concoction of powders placed around an image and a caricature of the Champions League winner.


Speaking to Kumasi-based radio station Angel FM, Bonsam said: "I know what Cristiano Ronaldo's injury is about, I'm working on him.

"I am very serious about it. Last week, I went around looking for four dogs and I got them to be used in manufacturing a special spirit called Kahwiri Kapam.

Bonsam serves at the Kofioo Kofi shrine and predicted in February that Ronaldo would be struck down by injury for the showpiece tournament, and he even predicted that the 29-year-old will pick up another injury before the tournament gets underway.

He added: "I said it four months ago that I will work on Cristiano Ronaldo seriously and rule him out of the World up or at least prevent him from playing against Ghana and the best thing I can do is to keep him out though injury."
      
      

[Liep]

He's doing the Lord's work.

[Duque de Bragança]

The Gold Coast marabout seems to be very efficient, but against Ribéry

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worldcup2014/article-2650738/Franck-Ribery-World-Cup-Schneiderlin-called-France-squad.html

Franck Ribéry out of World Cup as Southampton's Morgan Schneiderlin is called up to France squad for Brazil
Ribéry is out of the World Cup after failing to recover from back injury
Didier Deschamps revealed Ribéry and Clement Grenier were out of squad
Lyon midfielder Grenier missed training today after injury on Thursday
Schneiderlin and Montpellier's Rémy Cabella called up from reserve list
Coach Didier Deschamps has already replaced goalkeeper Steve Mananda
France's star man Franck Ribéry is out for the World Cup after failing to recover from a back injury.

Ribéry, as well as Lyon midfielder Clément Grenier, have both been forced to pull out of the squad.

Bayern Munich winger Ribéry has been struggling to recover from a back injury and had only been able to follow an individual fitness programme until he joined the squad for training today.

PS : Ribéry's "French-speaking" skills will be sorely missed as well.

[Pedrito]

The list of absent players is growing 

L.

[Zanza]

Germany still has question marks for Lahm and Schweinsteiger...

[The Larch]

We're also unsure about Diego Costa.