This is the first post in a series leading up to the 2014 World Cup to be held in Brazil.
The pots for 2014 World Cup have now been confirmed by FIFA. This image from ESPN FC best illustrates the breakdown of each pot:
(Again, Thanks to ESPN FC for the picture and they own all the rights to it).
Pot 1 is the comprised of the top 8 seeds for the 2014 World Cup. Pot 2 belongs to the five African qualifiers and the remaining two South American qualifiers. Pot 3 is for North American and Asian qualifiers. Pot 4 is the other 9 European qualifiers. In order to have 4 pots of 8 teams, one team from Pot 4 will be randomly selected and placed in Pot 2 to obtain the eight teams.
Keep in mind that no more than two European teams will be matched up in a group. In addition, no more than 1 South American team will be matched up in group. Finally, Brazil will automatically be placed in Group A.
Watch out for the “Group of Death” which would have the strongest teams concentrated in a single group. Every team wants to avoid the so called “Group of Death” which would be headed by Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, or Uruguay. The idea of a Germany, Ghana, United States and France Group is tantalizing and would be entertaining every match.
Also watch out for what I will coin as the “Group of Ease”. Both Belgium and Switzerland are being perceived as the easiest of the seeded teams to overcome in 2014. I am not sure that there is such thing as any easy group in the World Cup, especially if the top seed is a European team. It could be the “Group of Ease” for either Belgium or Switzerland if the draw the shakes out correctly.
Below are the odds of every team in the 2014 World Cup as of this writing. The odds are from 5Dimes.
| Team | Odds |
| Brazil | +300 |
| Germany | +560 |
| Argentina | +660 |
| Spain | +680 |
| Belgium | +1650 |
| Netherlands | +2150 |
| Colombia | +2350 |
| Italy | +2450 |
| England | +2550 |
| Uruguay | +2850 |
| France | +3250 |
| Portugal | +3450 |
| Chile | +4450 |
| Russia | +10500 |
| Switzerland | +14500 |
| Ghana | +15000 |
| Croatia | +16000 |
| Mexico | +16500 |
| Japan | +17000 |
| USA | +18000 |
| Ivory Coast | +21000 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | +22500 |
| Ecuador | +24000 |
| Nigeria | +29000 |
| Greece | +35000 |
| South Korea | +50000 |
| Cameroon | +70000 |
| Australia | +70000 |
| Costa Rica | +225000 |
| Iran | +250000 |
| Honduras | +250000 |
| Algeria | +250000 |
I will be tweeting this event live on Friday and you can follow me here. Part 2 of this series will be posted on Friday evening after the Draw has concluded. I will analyze the draw and look at how it affected each teams odds to win the 2014 World Cup. Be sure to check back and enjoy the 2014 World Cup Draw!