DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum World Cup 2014 - USA gets "Group of Death"

Ouch, not sure we're going to see the second round of this world cup.


http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1639444/fifa-sets-groups-2014-world-cup-draw?cc=5901

COSTA DO SAUIPE, Brazil -- World champions Spain will open their title defence at the 2014 World Cup play with a rematch vs. Netherlands while host country Brazil will kick off vs. Croatia, it was determined after the draw ceremony which opened with a tribute to Nelson Mandela.

The 2014 FIFA World Cup draw has provided some fascinating groups.
GettyImages
All 32 qualified nations finally learned their fate for the group stage.
Brazil are in Group A along with Mexico, and Cameroon; Spain were drawn in Group B with Chile -- who they also faced en route to lifting the trophy in South Africa in 2010 -- and Australia as well as the Dutch.

Colombia, Ivory Coast, Japan and Greece are together in Group C. South American champions Uruguay, Euro-2012 finalists Italy, Costa Rica and England are in a highly competitive Group D. Switzerland, Honduras, Ecuador and France are in Group E.

Argentina, Nigeria, Iran and Bosnia-Herzegovina are in Group F. Bosnia-Herzegovina -- the only debutant nation at next year's finals -- will play their first ever World Cup match against Argentina.

Group G looks set to be this tournament's 'Group of Death' as it contains Germany, Ghana, United States and Portugal. Belgium, South Korea, Algeria and Russia complete the draw by forming Group H.

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Mark Lomas brings us five things that we learned from the World Cup draw. Read

ESPN FC brings you all the latest news and info from the 32 teams who will be at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Read

All the fixtures from the games in Brazil this summer. Read

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More headlines
• SPI projections
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Mexico will play their first match against Cameroon while the United States will take on their 2010 second-round conquerors, Ghana, in their opener.

In Group D, Italy will start against England, who they defeated in a penalty shootout at Euro 2012 before losing to Spain in the final.

The United States will play Ghana, Portugal and Germany in what looks to be the toughest group.

Making their seventh straight World Cup appearance, the Americans were drawn into Group G and will open on June 16 in Natal against Ghana, who eliminated the Americans from the last two World Cups.

With the longest travel schedule of any World Cup team at almost 9,000 miles, the U.S. meet Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo on June 22 in the Amazon rainforest city of Manaus.

The Americans close their group on June 26 in Recife against Germany, who beat the U.S. in their 2002 quarterfinal meeting.

None of the previous seven World Cups held in the Americas, starting with the first edition in Uruguay in 1930, was won by a European team.

A film shown at the start of the ceremony showed Mandela at the final of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and other images from the life of the anti-apartheid campaigner and former president, who died Thursday at 95. A minute's silence was then held to honour Mandela.

the US was nearly guaranteed to be in the "Group of Death" because of how the draws were setup. all the weakest teams were in our draw unless you worry about Japan.

getting our nemesis Ghana is just plain bad luck though. if we get into the 2nd round, then we will definitely have earned it.

It is pretty much as bad as it gets. Hopefully it amps the team up and they play above their heads - otherwise, I'm not sure they can move onward. This being said, Portugal hasn't played stellar of late, Ghana is almost a "rival" at this point, and Klinsman has just a little history with the German team....

A potentially cool thing for me is that i'll be in Germany for a wedding June 21 and may still be in Germany on the 26th - would be cool to see the game against Germany while in Germany.

Horrible. Lucky to finish 3rd.

tough draw but if you're going to win you gotta beat the best at some point..

j/c

Group 'D' seems just as tough as 'G'. Group 'H' appears fairly soft...

"group of death" is such a stupid term that is used for the world cup. It sounds like it was made up by SEC fans to justify not making it to the next round.

Bet that got made up in Europe, wouldn't expect anything less from a bunch of floppers.

I like this US squad. They have as good of a chance as anyone else in their group.

Would love to send Ronaldo home crying if possible.

The only people who think this is the Group of Death are people who overrate the USA.

Group B is in my opinion the true group of death. Spain and Netherlands (the two finalists from the last WC) and Chile (the 15th best team in the world according to the rankings). Not to mention, Chile has Arturo Vidal and Alexis Sanchez, who - if they were American - would be the best US soccer players in history, and it wouldn't even be close. All these are all much better than USA/Ghana (the 3rd best team in Group G). Another thing Group B has going against it is that whoever finishes 2nd will most likely have to face Brazil in the Round of 16 - which is never an easy task - especially in Brazil.

I would also say Group D is a much tougher group as well: Italy, England and Uruguay should be very interesting with all the pressure in the world being on England who look weaker than usual.

The group that seems most evenly matched is Group C: Colombia, Greece, Japan, Ivory Coast. I can see any 2 teams making it out of there so that always makes for an interesting group.

Very excited for the World Cup

Uruguay isn't going to be a problem, they will be sleepy and want some nachos.

web page

We're better than Ghana, they just have our number. It will feel good breaking their streak in the opening game.

If we can tie Portugal, we might be in a good, not great, position to advance (having 4 points in group play gets you into the knockout stage more often than not - 5 of 9 advanced in 2010).

But it all comes down to the game against Ghana. We HAVE to beat them. I know we beat Germany recently, but they were playing their B team for the most part. They'll kill us in July.

Portugal is a wildcard. They are ranked high now, but they were close to the US just a bit ago.

I still think we'll finish 3rd, but I can see a sliver of hopefull sunlight through the storm clouds right now.

Is it wrong to bring up Nazi smack when we play Germany? Asking for a friend.

Meh. If you can't handle your group, you don't belong in the hunt for the cup.