World Cup

This is Ghana’s third straight World Cup appearance making the last 16 in 2006 and the quarterfinals in 2010. However, getting that far in 2014 will be a very tall task since they were drawn into the dreaded Group of death with Germany, Portugal, and the United States.

Ecuador is playing on their home continent, but only have the third best odds to make it out of their group. They were great at home in the qualifying process, but can they translate that to wins in Brazil? The tragic death of striker Chucho Benitez rocked the squad that has a solid midfield, but they are not an organized team and that may hurt them in the group stage.

Croatia had a tough time qualifying for World Cup and they may be without one of their best players for at least two matches in Brazil. FW Mario Mandzukic faces a possible two-match suspension because of a red card in the last match of qualifying. That will hurt with him being the best striker. While the Croats have a good team they will be playing in an unfamiliar hot and humid climate in Brazil.

Costa Rica has a great defense, but their have big issues on offense and they are in one of the tougher groups. They were solid in qualifying, but have a tall task progressing out of the group stage facing England, Italy, and Uruguay.

Maybe the biggest reason that Costa Rica is the biggest betting long shot, according to Bet365, is that they are not great at holding onto the ball. That is really not good since that both England and Italy are solid in that aspect of the game.

Colombia has qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 16 years and they have the best betting odds to make it out of their group. They are not in the toughest group this summer along with Ivory Coast, Japan, and Greece. The Columbians finished second behind Argentina in South American qualifying and they have a great offense. However, the defense is the major concern.

The Colombians are a well-rounded and technical squad that has great fitness and they have a great shot to have their best World Cup showing, which was the round of 16 in 1990.

Since Jorge Sampaoli took over as the head coach for Chile they went from a team that was a dark horse to qualify for Brazil, but are now a dark horse to win the World Cup. They ended qualifying en fuego and while they are in a hot team they are also in a tough group. Group B does have one of the weaker teams in Australia, but also the two teams that played in the final of the 2010 World Cup in Holland and Spain.

Cameroon is a very gifted and strong physical team that has a solid midfield and defense. However, they do not have very good odds, as their offense is not a dynamic one and they rely too much on veteran Samuel Eto'o. They have the worst odds to make it out of their group, but while they face Brazil both Mexico and Croatia did not fare well in qualifying, so the African nation has a chance to advance.

Cameroon Odds to win World Cup 2014: +30000
Cameroon Odds to win Group A: +2500

Bosnia-Herzegovina could not have been happy to be drawn into a group with Argentina, but they have a great chance to make it out facing the likes of Iran and Nigeria. They won their European qualifying group, ahead of Greece on goal differential, and they have a couple of great strikers in Edin Dzeko and Vedad Ibisevic.

The offense is the strength of the squad and while the midfield is also solid the same cannot be said and the defense.

Bosnia-Herzegovina is making their very first World Cup appearance and they have the second best betting odds to make it out of Group F.

Belgium may be one of the dark horses of the World Cup, but they are no secret after easily qualifying and having a good all around squad with no real weakness.

They are seen as being in the midst of a golden generation being a top pod seed where they can really take advantage of the fact they are not in very tough group in Brazil.

The one weakness of the squad may be their youth, as they do not have a lot of experience in big tournaments.

Algeria is playing in back to back World Cups for the first time since 1982 and 1986, but have long odds to make it out of their group. They have never made it out of the group stage in the World Cup and they have the lowest odds to do so this time around in Brazil.

Algeria’s midfield is their strength led by Inter Milan’s Saphir Taider, but their defense is suspect, which is why they have major long shots odds to make it out of their group much less to win it all.