2014 World Cup Pool Picks and Predictions to Complete Your Bracket

The 2014 World Cup is upon us, and we bet that there is a good chance you’re still scrambling to finish filling in that piece of paper you’re going to submit to the office pool. With 32 teams in the field, playing over 60 games throughout the tournament, sifting out a clear winner is tough by anyone’s standards – just look at how much variance there was in our collection of experts picks for the 2014 World Cup.

Well, that’s why we’re here – to make life easier for you. Below, you’ll see all our predictions of all the games in the tournament from the opening Brazil-Croatia match right up to the final. But before you dive straight into our predictions, you can join our World Cup contest here, where all you have to do is answer four quick questions to have a chance of winning $500!

If you’re the type that is still looking for the World Cup bracket to fill out, scroll to the bottom – we’ve got one there you can right click and save.
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Complete World Cup Pool Picks – Game-by-Game Predictions

The games begin with an interesting match between host Brazil and Croatia, two teams we predict to represent Group A in the next round. Though the Croats will offer Brazil some measure of resistance, the host nation’s team would plow through them, just as it would against the rest of its group mates.

[sc:Soccer240banner ]Don’t expect Brazil, which is priced +300 to win it all, to be eliminated in any phase of the tournament. We’ll tell you now: we are picking the Brazilians to become the newest World Cup champions.  If you’re looking for a group favorite to get beat by an underdog, look to Group D and H, where we have a couple of favorites picking up a loss in the first round. In Group D, we picked England defeating Uruguay, while we see Russia upsetting Belgium in Group H.

Predictions for Every Game of the World Cup Group Stage

Date | Location | Teams | Outcome
June 12, 2014 | Sao Paulo | Brazil vs. Croatia | Brazil 3-1
June 13, 2014 | Natal | Mexico vs. Cameroon | Mexico 2-1
June 13, 2014 | Salvador | Spain vs. Netherlands | Spain 3-1
June 13, 2014 | Cuiaba | Chile vs. Australia | Chile 3-0
June 14, 2014 | Belo Horizonte | Colombia vs. Greece | Colombia 2-1
June 14, 2014 | Recife | Ivory Coast vs. Japan | Draw 1-1
June 14, 2014 | Fortaleza | Uruguay vs. Costa Rica | Uruguay 1-0
June 14, 2014 | Manaus | England vs. Italy | Draw 1-1
June 15, 2014 | Brasilia | Switzerland vs. Ecuador | Switzerland 1-0
June 15, 2014 | Porto Alegre | France vs. Honduras | France 3-1
June 15, 2014 | Rio de Janeiro | Argentina vs. Bosnia And Herzegovina | Argentina 4-1
June 16, 2014 | Curitiba | Iran vs. Nigeria | Nigeria 2-0
June 16, 2014 | Salvador | Germany vs. Portugal | Portugal 2-1
June 16, 2014 | Natal | Ghana vs. United States | Ghana 1-0
June 17, 2014 | Fortaleza | Brazil vs. Mexico | Brazil 2-0
June 17, 2014 | Belo Horizonte | Belgium vs. Algeria | Belgium 2-0
June 17, 2014 | Cuiaba | Russia vs. Korea Republic | Russia 1-0
June 18, 2014 | Manaus | Cameroon vs. Croatia | Croatia 2-1
June 18, 2014 | Rio de Janeiro | Spain vs. Chile | Spain 2-1
June 18, 2014 | Porto Alegre | Australia vs. Netherlands | Netherlands 2-0
June 19, 2014 | Brasilia | Colombia vs. Ivory Coast | Draw 1-1
June 19, 2014 | Natal | Japan vs. Greece | Japan 1-0
June 19, 2014 | Sao Paulo | Uruguay vs. England | England 1-0
June 20, 2014 | Salvador | Switzerland vs. France | Draw 1-1
June 20, 2014 | Curitiba | Honduras vs. Ecuador | Honduras 1-0
June 20, 2014 | Recife | Italy vs. Costa Rica | Italy 1-0
June 21, 2014 | Belo Horizonte | Argentina vs. Iran | Argentina 4-0
June 21, 2014 | Cuiaba | Nigeria vs. Bosnia And Herzegovina | Nigeria 2-1
June 21, 2014 | Fortaleza | Germany vs. Ghana | Germany 2-0
June 22, 2014 | Manaus | United States vs. Portugal | Portugal 2-0
June 22, 2014 | Rio de Janeiro | Belgium vs. Russia | Russia 1-0
June 22, 2014 | Porto Alegre | Korea Republic vs. Algeria | Korea Republic 2-1
June 23, 2014 | Brasilia | Cameroon vs. Brazil | Brazil 2-1
June 23, 2014 | Recife | Croatia vs. Mexico | Draw 1-1
June 23, 2014 | Curitiba | Australia vs. Spain | Spain 3-1
June 23, 2014 | Sao Paulo | Netherlands vs. Chile | Netherlands 1-0
June 24, 2014 | Curitiba | Japan vs. Colombia | Colombia 1-0
June 24, 2014 | Fortaleza | Greece vs. Ivory Coast | Ivory Coast, 2-1
June 24, 2014 | Natal | Italy vs. Uruguay | Draw 1-1
June 24, 2014 | Belo Horizonte | Costa Rica vs. England | England 3-1
June 25, 2014 | Manaus | Honduras vs. Switzerland | Draw 1-1
June 25, 2014 | Rio de Janeiro | Ecuador vs. France | France 2-0
June 25, 2014 | Porto Alegre | Nigeria vs. Argentina | Argentina 3-1
June 25, 2014 | Salvador | Bosnia And Herzegovina vs. Iran | Draw 0-0
June 26, 2014 | Recife | United States vs. Germany | Germany 2-0
June 26, 2014 | Brasilia | Portugal vs. Ghana | Portugal 1-0
June 26, 2014 | Sao Paulo | Korea Republic vs. Belgium | Belgium 3-0
June 26, 2014 | Curitiba | Algeria vs. Russia | Russia 2-0

Group Winners

When it comes to group winners, the World Cup is often a tournament that anoints its favorites. Below, you’ll see we tapped the young English side to slip by Italy on goals for and against, but there are few other surprises here.

Group | Winner | Runner-up
A | Brazil | Croatia
B | Spain | Netherlands
C | Colombia | Japan
D | Uruguay | England
E | France | Switzerland
F | Argentina | Nigeria
G | Germany | Portugal
H | Belgium | Russia

Second Round Predictions

In the second round, we have Brazil continuing on its path to the World Cup title, beating Group E top team, France. If you agree with us that Brazil will win the World Cup, then you can back it up with a bet, simply by creating a betting account.

Other marquee matchups in this round would be a tussle between Germany and Russia, and a game pitting Belgium and Portugal head-to-head.

See our predictions of those matches, along with how we see the rest of the tournament to unfold in the tables below. We’ve already told you Brazil as our selection to become the 2014 World Cup champion. But which team will challenge them in the final, according to our crystal ball?

Round | Teams | Winner
Round of 16 | Brazil vs. Netherlands | Brazil
Round of 16 | Colombia vs. England | Colombia
Round of 16 | France vs. Nigeria | France
Round of 16 | Germany vs. Russia | Germany
Round of 16 | Spain vs. Croatia | Spain
Round of 16 | Uruguay vs. Japan | Uruguay
Round of 16 | Argentina vs. Switzerland | Argentina
Round of 16 | Belgium vs. Portugal | Portugal

Quarterfinals Predictions

In the quarters, there are some all-time juicy matchups. Brazil-Colombia could push excitement in the continent of South America to a breaking point. France-Germany dusts up historical flashbacks any time it comes across a schedule, and this year both teams have high-powered kits capable of going all the way.

Round | Teams | Winner
Quarterfinal | Brazil vs. Colombia | Brazil
Quarterfinal | Spain vs. Uruguay | Spain
Quarterfinal | France vs. Germany | France
Quarterfinal | Argentina vs. Portugal | Argentina

Semifinals

Spain vs. Argentina is the game soccer fans have been looking forward to since the World Cup draws were announced. Very likely to be a semifinal match up, this game would pit the two biggest tournament favorites against one another. Meanwhile, if France makes it this far, they will have found their limit: Brazil is on another level.

Round | Teams | Winner
Semifinal | Brazil vs. France | Brazil
Semifinal | Spain vs. Argentina | Spain

World Cup Final

The World Cup Final rarely disappoints, and this one certainly wouldn’t.

Round | Teams | Winner
Final | Brazil vs. Spain | Brazil

So there you have it – all the winners for every game in the tournament. If you’re looking for more detail on any of the teams, groups, or players mentioned above, our World Cup section has breakdowns of all those things and more, including features like our countdown of the hottest women in Brazil.

Update: our 2014 World Cup Bracket is below. Click it to expand it in your browser and then right click and select “Save As” to download.

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