My World Cup Final Four, Italy-Belgium; France-England.....Finals: France 2 - Italy 1.......Bosnia, Greece, Switzerland, Russia, and especially Colombia serious potential bracket busters....Switzerland, Croatia and Greece for their shutdown defense, (Switzerland has great scoring potential Xherdan Shaqiri might become a star this tournament), Russia for their depth....Bosnia is an overall very good squad with low pressure on them. Colombia is a great team, and are very likely to upset their South American rivals, Brazil, in the second-round. England is very under-rated, Germany is a little over-rated because, in my opinion, they didnt bring enough offensive fire-power, relying too much on 36-year-old Miroslav Klose as the only real striker they are brining to Brazil, leaving Mario Gomez at home. Thomas Mueller, like Cesc Fabregas does for Spain, play the false #9 (or #11 depending on your perspective) position, but he is a midfielder at his heart. Schurlee will be expected to score goals, but he is not an threat from the air. Bringing 22-year-old Erik Durm, who wont play, in lieu of Mario Gomez who has 59 caps and 25 International Goals, in his prime at 28 who is sadly injured, is tough for Germany, the alternative would have been 511 Max Kruse...but they are better off looking for goals from Lukas Podolski, a top-ten all time scorer for Germany. With Gomez, Lars Bender, and Marco Reus all injured, three German starters, I cant pick Germany in the final four. England is hungry, and seem to have less expectations then most years. Daniel Sturridge is a super-star in the making, and could go super-nova with the benefit of Rooney who is a great passer of the ball and defenders locked in on him and Danny Welbeck is great too. This will be the last WC for Gerrard and Lampard...Wilshire is great. John Terry is a gamer, with a great relationship with his CB-mate Gary Cahill....Leighton Baines is one of the top-three fullbacks in the world. Glen Johnson is big and fast...I would prefer Micah Richards...hes better in the air. My favorite under-rated player is Croatian Fullback Darijo Srna, a fantastic passer of the ball. Under the radar like Leighton Baines, while Lahm and Dani Alves receive their well deserved credit, he should still be well-known. Mexicos Miguel Layún is also a brilliant Fullback and at 25, can move to a big European Club anytime he likes.... Im Picking France for their balance. Antoine Griezmann is a rocket, he and Valbuena will fill-in for the missing Ribery. Cabaye, Pogba and Matuidi are as good a CM battery as any in the world. Giroud, Loic Remy, and Benzema bring as much offense as any other squad, with the capacity to beat you in the air or one v. one. Sissoko, Schneiderlin, and Rio Mavuba, are all super-sub. Mangala is a brilliant header of the ball on D or on set pieces, Varane is a quick CB. Evra is experienced and a lock-down fullback. Sagna is the same, but faster then Evra. Sakho, is big and rangy, Koscielny is quick and great in the air. Hugo Lloris is very experienced and a top-5 Goal-Keeper. This D is so good that they left Adil Rami, a minor mistake in my opinion, home, and Éric Abidal who coming off a kidney transplant played 26 matches for Monaco this season, as well. France, is balanced, deep, defensive, creative, with a top-GK.
Posted on: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 19:50:19 +0000