Group D – World Cup 2014

This part of the draw may be called a group of death. Another balanced group but unlike C, group D in addition to uniformity and have high quality. Even three former world champions have in this competition – Italy, England and Uruguay which together have up to 7 titles in 19 games so far Mondial. The fourth participant in this group is Costa Rica, which is an absolute outsider in this competition. As a team that could be a D1 I decided for the Uruguay national team for several reasons. The first reason is of course the fact that the championship is held on their continent. It is expected that a good support for the Uruguayans, especially in the face of English which will be held at the border relatively close to the city – Sao Paulo. Also keep in mind fixtures. Uruguay favored by the fact that outsiders start against Costa Rica and could already start to freak out the scoring by at least one competitor, if not of both (if the match Italy and England finished in a tie). The fact that the British and Italians luck in the first round is very favorable for the Uruguayans thus avoids possible tactics mentioned teams as might be the case that they eventually met in the final third round. It should be noted, and Luis Suarez, the best player and shooter Uruguay. Suarez is injured but also for successful surgery and according to recent reports, he will only miss the opening match of their team. So another important factor to Uruguay the first game played against outsiders and not against any of its competitors. As for the runner-up in this group, I opted for England. So I expect that Italy as a four-time world champion does not qualify for the second phase. Simply despite the final, played at the previous European Championship (EURO 2012), the fact that Italy is no longer a superpower as in the past. Serie A is also weaker than ever, Italian teams (with the exception of Juventus somewhat) fail to keep pace with Europe. This decline in quality starts to affect the national team.

Uruguay coach: Oscar Washington Tabarez

Goalkeepers: Rodrigo Munoz, Fernando Muslera, Martin Silva

Defenders: Martin Caceres, Sebastian Coates, Jorge Fucile, Jose Maria Gimenez, Diego Godin, Diego Lugano, Alvaro Pereira, Maxi Pereira

Midfielders: Egidio Arevalo, Walter Gargano, Alvaro Gonzalez, Nicolas Lodeiro, Diego Perez, Gaston Ramirez, Cristian Rodriguez

Forwards: Edinson Cavani, Diego Forlan, Abel Hernandez, Christian Stuani, Luis Suarez .

Costarica coach: Jorge Luis Pinto

Goalkeepers: Daniel Cambronero, Keylor Navas, Patrick Pemberton

Defenders: Johnny Acosta, Junior Diaz , Oscar Duarte , Waylon Francis, Christian Gamboa, Giancarlo Gonzalez, Roy Miller, Heiner Mora, Michael Umana

Midfielders: Michael Barrantes, Christian Bolanos, Diego Calvo, Jose Miguel Cubero, Esteban Granados, Yeltsin Tejeda

Forwards: Celso Borges, Randall Brenes, Joel Campbell, Bryan Ruiz , Marco Urena

England coach: Roy Hodgson

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, Ben Foster, Frazer Forster

Defenders: Leyton Baines, Gary Cahill, Fil  Jagielka, Glen Johnson, Fil Jones, Luck Shaw i Cris Smalling

Midfielders: Stiven Gerrard, Ros Barkley, Jordan Henderson, Adam Lalana, Franck Lampard , James Milner, Rahim Sterling, Jack Vilshere

Forwards: Ricky Lambert, Rooney, Daniel Staridge i Danny Velbeck

Italy coach: Cesare Prandelli

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon, Mattia Perin, Salvatore Sirigu

Defenders: Ignazio Abate, Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Matteo Darmian, Mattia De Sciglio, Gabriel Paletta

Midfielders: Alberto Aquilani, Antonio Candreva, Daniele De Rossi, Claudio Marchisio, Marco Parolo, Andrea Pirlo, Thiago Motta, Marco Verratti

Forwards: Mario Balotelli, Antonio Cassano, Alessio Cerci, Ciro Immobile, Lorenzo Insigne