And just last night, Waris was forced off in the 6th minute with a thigh injury. Reports are calling him "in doubt" for the opener. That could be huge for the US, as no one on Ghana matches his form. Read more

The purpose of the preview is not to be a fight between Messi and Ronaldo. Read more

I happen to agree with you. But I also didn't write the piece yesterday... Read more

Can we keep the hockey posts on the main site? Read more

I think he's a dual citizen, as both his parents are Iranian. He only started playing for Iran last year, after being called up to the US team in 2012. Read more

The goal they scored is a good example of what Nigeria can do with speed in the lineup. Emenike is much pacier than Ameobi (I may be too), and you could see the effect it had on the defenders, especially Omar Gonzalez. Add in Musa, who's a completely different type of winger than Odemwingie, and you can see why… Read more

Yeah, he's certainly a phenomenal keeper, definitely the best in Africa. Something else to consider is that he's routinely credited as one of the best distributors of the ball from the back of any goalie in the world. That alone is good for creating two or three good chances for Nigeria. Read more

Yeah, that's exactly right. It's like Australia in Group B. The overall strength of the group may not be like the US's group, but the path for weaker teams like Costa Rica or Australia is as or more difficult anyway. Read more

Haha, that's a fair point too. Having watched Gargano for Inter and Rios for Palermo and then the Fire last year, I'm fully (painfully) aware how limited that midfield is. But the additions of Ramirez and Rodriguez as outside mids definitely help with some of the fluidity. Read more

Italy also only have 4 players who played last season outside of Italy, including a backup goalkeeper. In the starting lineup, there'll probably be only one (Thiago Motta) non-Serie A player. Read more

He was probably the single best player at the Cup in 2010, for sure. He spent a terrible year with Inter Milan right afterwards, then moved to Brazil for a couple years. Now he plays in Japan, and folks have pretty much forgotten about him at the club level. Read more

Two more guys to bring up, as examples of Colombia's overall attacking depth: Juan Cuadrado and Victor Ibarbo. Cuadrado is almost identical to Zuniga, except he plays in a more advanced position on the wing. He's coming off a monster year for Fiorentina, and should serve as a lethal opposite winger to Rodriguez. Read more

That's part of the problem, though. He's not at full fitness, and won't have played a full game in over a month by the time they play the Netherlands. Moreover, he's not really had much of a chance to play with most of Spain's other starters, so if — and I'm not saying there will be — but if there are communication… Read more

Hell no, I'm not insane. They'll lose to Brazil. Read more

Hey, just saying, they lost to Switzerland last time, and barely got by Chile in the last game. Chile and the Netherlands are both better than any team they faced in the group stage in 2010, and this ain't your you-4-years-ago's Spain. Read more

Call me crazy, but I could see a situation in which Spain bombs out, losing to the Netherlands in the first game and then being unable to beat Chile in their second. Spain is just a bit older and a bit slower, and can be beaten by vicious counter-attackers, which happens to be precisely what Chile and the Netherlands… Read more

Well, there are more European teams that qualify for the Cup than any other continent, so I'm not sure how you'd avoid that. The seeded teams this year are pretty split between SA and Europe, plus there's an extra SA team this year because Brazil is hosting and didn't have to qualify. Read more

It's a combination of FIFA World Rankings (hugely problematic) and geography. The top 7 teams in the rankings and the host country are seeded, meaning they will be the first team drawn into Groups B-H, with Brazil in Group A. Read more

To be fair, they just started experimenting with the 5-3-2 a game or so ago, to see what would be best without Strootman in the middle. Might they keep it? Sure. Read more