5 REASONS WHY THIS WORLD CUP IS WORTH WATCHING

My dear readers,
The Brazilian World Cup is well on its way. As always happens in a World Cup, there are matches popping out of nowhere, and it is hard to stop for a second and analyze how the wider picture is shaping up.
I decided to take a look at the first round of matches, and compared them with what happened 4 years ago in South Africa.
Wanna know what I found out?


1)IT'S WINNING OR NOTHING
In the first 16 games of the competition there have only been 2 draws (Iran-Nigeria 0-0 and Russia-South Korea 1-1), many less than South Africa 2010 (where there were 6 draws).
The teams may be feeling the heat, but won't settle for anything less than the whole pot.


2)GOAL!GOAL!GOOOOOALLLL!
Whether it's because defenders are a bit distracted, or because strikers are particularly inspired, this is proving to be a very prolific World Cup. Four years ago, the first round of games rendered a total of 25 goals. In the same number of matches, Brazil 2014 has almost doubled that figure (49). You surely can't say that this is a boring World Cup.


3) ONE FOR ME, TWO FOR YOU
As a consequence of the higher number of goals, the most frequent result has gone from being 1-0 in South Africa to 2-1 in Brazil. And seeing how day-2 is going (Uruguay-England 2-1, Honduras-Ecuador 2-1 and Colombia-Ivory Coast 2-1), this stat seems destined to be confirmed.


4)'TIL THE END
These 49 goals have been quite evenly distributed between the first and the second  45', but in the latter the scoring has been slightly more prolific (21 v 28). Heat and dehydration might be tough to handle, but these 32 teams seem to know what it takes to give it their all until the final whistle.


5)HELP FROM THE BENCH
Moreover, the majority of the goals has been scored by players who were in the first-11 line up (39), whereas fewer were scored by substitutes (10).
It has to be said, however, that four teams have benefited the most from their reserves: Switzerland and Belgium won their matches with 2 goals per side scored by subs (Mehmedi and Seferovic for the Swiss, Fellaini and Mertens for the Belgians), and the entire match between Russia and South Korea benefited from the newcomers, as the final 1-1 was the result of two of their goals: Lee Keun Ho and Kerzakhov.

LET THE PARTY BEGIN: BRAZIL 2014, HERE WE COME!

In the aftermath of a series of injuries and friendly matches, here we are yet again, on the brink of the inauguration of a new World Cup.

Now it's time to talk real business.

At 3:30 pm (local time), the Arena Corinthians in Saõ Paulo will host the opering ceremony of the XX edition of the FIFA World Cup. Brazil is organizing the event for the second time in history, and its team is determined to give their fans a glorious home edition performance, something to remember for decades.
Today the samba warriors will clash with Croatia in the first match of the competition.
I had a look at the Brazilian National team's opening matches in past World Cup history.


Going for 17?
Brazil has won 16 out of its 19 opening matches, drawing once and losing twice. These two defeats, however, go back to the competition's early days. This happened in 1930 (2-1 against Yugoslavia) and in 1934 (3-1 hands down to Spain).
From 1950 onwards, Brazil has never conceded more than one goal, finishing on a clean sheet 9 times out of its 16 matches.

Mexico has always been their perennial victim: three times the two American teams have confronted each other, twice in a row (1950, 1954 and 1962), and three times Brazil has won. 11 goals scored, 0 conceded. Boom!

Today the South American players will meet Croatia. The only previous encounter between these two teams has been at another World Cup opening match: it took place in Germany, 8 years ago, and Brazil nailed them 1-0. Is revenge in the air or will history repeat itself?

One thing's for sure: every time Brazil ended up winning the trophy, the squad had won their initial match. Neymar and co.'d better keep that in mind.