The 2014 FIFA World Cup finals, arguably the world’s
biggest sporting event, gets underway at Sao Paulo in Brazil on
Thursday with the hosts taking on Croatia.
The opening ceremony, to be staged at the Arena de Sao Paulo and
preceded immediately by the opening match, will kick-start a 32-
day football spectacle.
It will involve a performance by Pitbull, Claudia Leitte, Jennifer
Lopez and Olodum, climaxing a ceremony which starts at 15.14
hours Brazilian time.
The performance is set to thrill the public by paying homage to
Brazil’s three biggest treasures – its nature, people and football.
Billed to last 25 minutes, the cast is made up of more than 600
people, the majority of whom study at dance or circus schools or
at cultural workshops.
In addition to the 62,600 fans present in the stadium, the ceremony
will be shown on television in 200 territories around the world.
This will involve more than 160 principal rights-holders
broadcasting to all four corners of the globe, making the event one
of the most watched in recent times.
But the real action, which the whole world has waited for with
bated breath since 2010, comes with the opening match.
It is a game from Group A, and the hosts will be hoping to set off
their campaign for a sixth title on a good note by beating Croatia.
The group looks tight with Mexico and Cameroon as the other
contenders, but both Brazil and Mexico look likely to get the
second round tickets.
But any one of Cameroon and Croatia hold the outside chance,
with any one of them good enough to beat Mexico to the second
ticket from the group.
Brazil have an edge over all others in the group, having met them
all in past World Cups and beaten them, with Mexico the only one
capable of standing up to them.
But since the history of World Cup opening matches is replete with
shocking results on such grand occasions, Brazil may well have to
watch it in this opening game.
Thereafter, the competition offers a different mixture of excitement,
suspense, gritty action and finesse, with Group B harbouring one
of the other competition favourites.
Defending champions Spain take on top side Netherlands on June
13, in a repeat of the 2010 final game in South Africa, which the
Spaniards won 1-0.
Both sides are expected to advance from the group comfortably,
and only Chile is expected to threaten them, even though Australia
will make them bring out some sweat.
Group C has Colombia, Greece, Cote D’Ivoire and Japan, with any
one of them capable of leading the pack and any of them also
capable of losing out disappointedly.
In Group D, Uruguay, England and Italy are the teams with the
chance to advance to the next round, even though Costa Rica
should not be disregarded.
1998 champions France are alongside Switzerland and Ecuador,
with the latter more at home to pick the second Group E ticket, but
Honduras can create some little headache for the unwary.
Group F will be difficult a bit, with Argentina holding the key to
Nigeria’s progress, while Iran should find things tougher than they
can keep up with.
Bosnia-Herzegovina will be a strong proposition for the others,
and look good to jostle with the South American giants for the
group’s top spot, which may be too bad for Nigeria.
Already dubbed “group of death’’, Group G will be another
interesting pack, with all four of Germany, Portugal, the U.S. and
Ghana looking good enough to advance to the next round.
But, Germany stand out as favourites to advance and also move
on to challenge for the title, with any one of the others good
enough to move to the second round.
Group H has Belgium, Algeria, Russia and South Korea, and the
form book will give the two tickets to the European sides.
But if inexperience does not stifle Algeria’s performance and
South Korea find their bearing early enough, then expect that a
surprise awaits either of Belgium and Russia.
However, it is not going to be all about team performance at this
World Cup, notable players have given indications they would use
the competition to raise their personal ratings.
Brazil has the likes of FC Barcelona’s Neymar, as well as Fred and
Thiago Silva, while Croatia have Mario Mandzukic and Real
Madrid’s Luka Modric to boast of.
Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o, Spain’s Andres Iniesta, Xavi Alonso
and Fernando Torres are also waiting in the wings, with Chile’s
Alexis Sanchez equally looking ready to shine.
Colombia’s Radamel Falcao has been injured much of the season
and now has the opportunity to live up to his name if injury
permits.
Georgios Samaras of Greece, as well as Luis Suarez and Edinson
Cavani of Uruguay are also other players the football world has
been waiting to see on the world stage.
Equally, Didier Drogba and Yaya Toure of Cote D’Ivoire need to
carry the hopes of their country on their shoulders effectively, so
as to remain the national heroes they are.
Karim Benzema will have to re-enact what he has been doing for
Real Madrid for France, while Sergio Aguerro has to also live up to
his billing.
Also, Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard have a lot to prove with
Belgium, while Edin Dzeko (Bosnia-Herzegovina) and Mesut Ozil
have to show they are worthy of their value.
But Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo perhaps have more to
prove than the rest, as they carry more of the burden of what
Argentina and Portugal will show in Brazil.
They may even have more than their team’s aspirations to worry
about, with the title of the world’s best player now at stake and up
for grabs between the two.
Whichever way the event goes by July 13, hosts Brazil and
defending champions Spain, as well as Messi and Ronaldo would
not have failed to catch the headlines.
They would have had the opportunity to either live up to
expectations or fail to raise their game and thus disappoint.
A lot of factors would have come into play in this regard, such as
luck and injuries in particular.
But, given what they have all promised in the past two years, there
is no doubt that Brazil 2014 will live up to expectations as a
tournament.
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