Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba are world class but the team lack depth. [124], The broadcasting rights – covering television, radio, internet and mobile coverage – for the tournament were sold to media companies in each individual territory either directly by FIFA, or through licensed companies or organisations such as the European Broadcasting Union, Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana, International Media Content, Dentsu and RS International Broadcasting & Sports Management.

[41][42][43] France's second goal in their group game against Honduras was the first time goal-line technology was needed to confirm that a goal should be given. [142] Further protests took place during the Confederations Cup as well as prior to and during the World Cup. Paraguayfailed to qualif…

[30] Teams were awarded three points for a win and one for a draw. Mats Hummels

If you can afford to leave players out like Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri, then you must be in pretty good shape.

Javier Mascherano It was the second time that Brazil staged the competition, the first being in 1950, and the fifth time that it was held in South America. [30] During a match, all remaining squad members not named in the starting team are available to be one of the three permitted substitutions (provided the player is not serving a suspension).

[118] As a partner of the German Football Association, the German airline Lufthansa renamed itself "Fanhansa" on some of its planes that flew the German national team, media representatives and football fans to Brazil.

Costa Rica aren't too bad and could take a few points off the other teams. [140] Both the Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff and FIFA president Sepp Blatter were heavily booed as they were announced to give their speeches at the 2013 tournament's opening,[141] which resulted in FIFA announcing that the 2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony would not feature any speeches.

"They have three world-class players in Atletico Madrid's on-loan keeper Thibaut Courtois, Manchester City defender Vincent Kompany and Chelsea midfielder Eden Hazard. "Brazil have been given a group that is tricky but not terrifying. [68] This is the largest number of goals in the group stage since the 32-team system was implemented in 1998[69] and the largest average in a group stage since 1958.

Player: Goals: Matches: AVG goals: Penalties: Team » Tables on YOUR SITE 4 FREE » Live Scores & H2H. The opening game was preceded by an opening ceremony that began at 15:15 local time. During that time, Kramer was disoriented and confused, and asked the referee Nicola Rizzoli whether the match he was playing in was the World Cup Final. [121] Sony was selected as the official equipment provider and built 12 bespoke high definition production 40-foot-long containers, one for each tournament venue, to house the extensive amount of equipment required.

Twenty-four of these teams were returning participants from the 2010 World Cup. [143][144][145][146][147], At the Group B match between Spain and Chile, around 100 Chilean supporters who had gathered outside Maracanã Stadium forced their way into the stadium and caused damage to the media centre. ", Fixtures (all times BST): Thursday 12 June: Brazil v Croatia 21:00, Friday 13 June: Mexico v Cameroon 17:00, Tuesday 17 June: Brazil v Mexico 20:00, Wednesday 18 June: Cameroon v Croatia 23:00, Monday 23 June: Cameroon v Brazil, Croatia v Mexico both 21:00. [82] Klose set another record by becoming the first player to appear in four World Cup semi-finals. Argentina reached the final four for the first time since 1990 after a 1–0 win over Belgium. [120], For a fourth consecutive FIFA World Cup Finals, the coverage was provided by HBS (Host Broadcast Services), a subsidiary of Infront Sports & Media. [31] Consequently, the tournament required long-distance travel for teams. [28][29], As with the 2010 tournament, each team's squad consists of 23 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers).