So you are sitting there wondering what all this commotion is about. Why is everyone so enthusiastic about the World Cup? Well you are at the right place because we are going to clue you in and help you understand why this is the biggest sporting event. Who takes part in this World Cup
Anyone and everyone has a chance to take part in this prestigious event. As long as you can kick a ball, you could qualify, just depending on how well you can kick said ball. 32 teams make it to the World Cup finals and 31 of them had to play qualifying rounds against other teams from their continents. The other team qualifies automatically as they are the hosts.
After these teams have battled to qualify, they are placed into eight groups of four and the two best performing teams from each group proceed to the knockout rounds. Only four make it to the semi-finals by winning their first two knockout matches. The losers of each semi-final will compete in a 3rd place playoff and the winners…. Well you guessed it, they qualify for the finals.
Hosts
For the 2014 World Cup, Brazil (the most successful footballing nation with 5 World Cups) will be the hosts. I don't think anyone could have chosen a better nation to host this tournament in. Although there has been some trouble about getting the stadia ready for the tournament and some protests against the hosting of the World Cup, it seems all will go as planned. There will be 12 stadia hosting this World Cup in 12 different cities.
Also note that the hosts for the World Cup 2018 and 2022 were already announced well ahead of schedule.
The big boys and underdogs
Germany, Italy, Brazil, Spain, Argentina: these are some of the best when it comes to this competition, each team having won the World Cup before. Brazil are favourites for most people as they are expected to perform well at home in front of their fans. Spain are the current world and European champions and come into this World Cup with much confidence.
Apart from your usual favourites, this World Cup will be more interesting as it offers more competition from the lower ranked teams.
Belgium and Japan are the teams to look out for if you want to root for the underdogs. They both have a wide range of talent in their squad, including some well-known superstars. Belgium are the team that have everyone pumped. A very young team that is eager to perform at the biggest stage, most of their players have proved themselves in the world's elite leagues.
Japan will be participating in their 5th consecutive World Cup and that's a great achievement. They are arguably the best team in Asia at the moment. Their main players are Kagawa (Man Utd), Honda (AC Milan), and Nagatomo (Inter)
England
Don't be fooled by the talent this team possesses because they can be disappointing when it comes to the big stage. They have won the Cup once in their history but that was in 1966. They have been grouped with Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica which is the kind of group England really wanted to avoid. If they make it out of this group… they just might have it in them to go all the way. Infographic freely translated by yours truly Raphu, from Brazilian newspaper 'O Globo'. If I were you, I'd open it on a new tab to read.
Main players
Even if you have never had any interest in football, you should have heard about Messi and Ronaldo at least once in your life. They will be the main players (as usual) playing for Argentina and Portugal respectively. These two haven't had it their way when it comes to the international stage scoring only one goal (between the two of them) in the last World Cup in South Africa.