The World Cup Group Stage standings for 2014 has all 32 teams tied with zero points to start the Brazil tournament and the match results will begin this week as the tournament starts in the first stage of the draw and teams will be looking to get points early and often as they try and advance to the knockout stage and Brazil will get an early chance and are one of the favorites in the WC14.
The World Cup schedule opens on Thursday and lasts for two weeks in the group stage before moving to the knockout stage and this year Brazil, Germany, Argentina and Spain are the favorites coming in. The Group A set has Brazil, Mexico, Cameroon and Croatia and the host nation should have no trouble getting out of that group, as they are the favored team and the best team of that bunch. Neymar leads the way and this would be the first time since 2002 that the nation won and the first since 1998 that the host nation took the Cup title.
The group stage has the chance to be very dramatic this year and Group B has the defending champions in Spain and they open with a big match against the Netherlands to start. The Dutch, Spanish, Australians and Chile are in the group and Spain should be able to get out of that, while Holland is another favorite, but losing that opener will make it very tough to advance. Spain is strong up front and on defense, but the team is made up of many older players and that could have an effect on how good the team is, especially with the heat.
No European team has won the Cup when it is played in South America and that makes things even tougher for the teams looking to win. The Group C set has some solid teams, with Ivory Coast looking strong with Yaya Toure and his brother along with Colombia, Greece and Japan and that should be an interesting group as well, with the Japanese a tough out always. Group D has some of the best matchups of the entire tournament, as England and Italy are playing in a rematch of a classic game and that is the first from the Arena Amazonia in Manaus and should be a great match.
The rest of Group D has Uruguay taking on Costa Rica and that should be good as well, with Luis Suarez coming in after a great season in the EPL. The English play against Uruguay second and then finish their group with Costa Rica last. Group G is being called the group of death and for good reason, as the United States, Portugal, Ghana and Germany are in that group. USA had their best year last year results wise and now they may not even get to the knockout stage and they start with Ghana before playing Portugal in the Amazing and then it's Germany. The Germans are the favorites and winning that first match is crucial.
Check here for the World Cup group standings and schedule for Brazil 2014.