The 2014 World Cup Qualifying Draw took place in Brazil on July 31st and in usual FIFA style there was some controversy involved in the event. Brazilian legend Pele was initially snubbed by Ricardo Teixeira, who is the head of the Brazilian Organising Committee, and the government had to intervene to make sure Pele was invited to the draw. Teixeira also slammed England and the British media in the press before the event and FIFA president Sepp Blatter actually stood up for them defended them, which likely the first and last time we’ll ever see Blatter side with England.

In addition, the rankings of the teams were controversial as always. The top nine-seeded teams are taken from the current FIFA rankings and the last four year’s worth of games are used to calculate the team’s spots. This meant Norway, which hasn’t qualified for a major tournament since Euro 2000, was ranked ahead of France. This means France paid dearly for having a brutal World Cup last year. However, the French didn’t really start crying about their ranking until they were placed in Group I with world and European champion Spain on the last ball of the draw. England can count themselves lucky as they were second-last ball in the draw.

The winner of each of the nine groups will qualify for the tournament and the eight best second-place teams will compete in a two-legged playoff with the four winners advancing, making 13 teams from Europe qualifying. The record of the last-place team in Groups A to H won’t be used when determining the best runners up positions.

William Hill is already giving out lots of odds on the winners of each group, and what team will qualify.

Keep in mind that the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup don’t start until September 2012 and a lot can happen between then and now. They end up in October 2013 with second-place playoffs taking place in November 2013.

All Qualifying Groups for World Cup in Brazil

GROUP A

Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, Scotland, Macedonia, and Wales
. Anything can happen in this group as three of the teams, Croatia, Serbia, and Macedonia were all part of the former Yugoslavia and Wales and Scotland are both British nations. Look for Serbia and Croatia to battle it out for first place, making it tough for anybody else to take second. Belgium could be the surprise team though.

GROUP B

Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Armenia, and Malta. 
Italy will face competition from Denmark and the Czech Republic for first place, meaning one of those three teams is going to end up in third place and miss out.

GROUP C

Germany, Sweden, Ireland, Austria, Faroe Islands, and Kazakhstan
. The Germans should win this group, with Sweden, Ireland and Austria all fighting it out for second place.

GROUP D

Holland, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Estonia, and Andorra
. The class of this group is Holland and they’ve beaten Hungary a couple of times in Euro 2012 qualifying quite easily. The Dutch shouldn’t have a problem topping the group with Turkey, Hungary, and Romania battling it out for second place.



GROUP E

Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland, Albania, Cyprus, and Iceland
. All of the other top-seeded teams would love to swap places with Norway here. Even though the Norwegians are ranked higher, this group is wide open for Switzerland and Slovenia to take first place. It wouldn’t even be a surprise if Norway came in third.

GROUP F

Portugal, Russia, Israel, Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan, and Luxembourg
. Portugal always seems to struggle in qualifying rounds for major tournaments and they get be troubled by Israel and Russia. They usually manage to do enough though. Israel and Russia should fight it out for second.

GROUP G

Greece, Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lithuania, Latvia, and Liechtenstein
. Like Norway, Greece isn’t really that strong of a team, so Slovakia could take first, with Bosnia having a shot at a second-place finish.

GROUP H

England, Montenegro, Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, and San Marino
. England is another team that often struggles in qualifying campaigns. They’re having a tough time right now with Montenegro in Euro 2012 qualifying and have struggled with Poland in the past. Ukraine is also strong enough to cause some damage. In fact, other than San Marino and Moldova, this is a wide open group.

GROUP I

Spain, France, Belarus, Georgia, and Finland. 
This looks like it’s going to be a showdown between Spain and France for first and second. However, if Spain takes the group, Finland could sneak in at second place.

Finland sits in fifth place in the six-team group with six points from two wins and three losses. They also have a game in hand over the rest of the group and could move into a third-place tie with Hungary if they can beat the Swedes. Both Sweden and Finland played on June 3rd, with Sweden winning 4-1 in Moldova and Finland taking a 1-0 win in San Marino.

Sweden heads into the match with three wins, a draw, and a loss in their past five games overall while Finland has won two, lost two and drawn one, including an 8-0 win over San Marino.

John Elmander scored twice for Sweden against Moldova and Mikael Forssell had the goal for Finland against San Marino. Forssell is the player to watch for Finland as he has six goals in the qualifying campaign so far. If the Swedes can keep him in check then Finland will struggle to score goals.

Sweden should start the same lineup as June 3rd as everybody made it out of the game healthy. They’ll probably stick to their 4-4-2 formation with Isaksson in goal. Finland left Jari Litmanen out of the squad last game and Teemu Tainio retired from international football. Finland will likely go with a 5-5-1 formation with Hradecky in goal and Forssell playing up front as the lone striker.

Sweden vs Finland Betting Predictions

Sweden still has a realistic chance to make Euro 2012 while Finland doesn’t really. This will motivate Sweden as they have a lot more to play for. It could be a close game, but Sweden should come out on top to put some pressure on the group leaders Holland for the rest of the campaign. Finland has to win to have any chance at all of making Euro 2012, but that chance will likely be extinguished here.

This is a very tight group with Ireland sitting in first place with 10 points with three wins, a draw, and a loss. However, Russia and Slovakia also have 10 points. Macedonia is in fifth place with four points from a win, a draw, and three losses. Needless to say this is a huge game for both teams as points are precious in this group.

Macedonia has won one, lost three, and drawn one in their past five games and haven’t played since losing to Ireland in March. Ireland has been more active on the friendly front and have won four and lost once in their last five. They beat Northern Ireland 5-0 and Scotland 1-0 in the last week of May and their loss was a close 3-2 decision to Uruguay at home in March. Robbie Keane has been playing well for the Irish and is now the team’s all-time leading scorer with 49.

Macedonia will be playing in their new stadium so this should give them some sort of lift, but the Irish have been pretty hot lately. Shay Given is back in goal for Ireland and that’s a huge boost to them as he’s one of the best keepers in the world.

This should be another close game and Ireland will be hoping to continue their hot streak and keep the momentum going. That means Keane will have to be in top form once again. Macedonia needs the points to keep pace and have any hope of qualifying. This is a good opportunity to do it against an Irish team that may be a little tired and banged up from their two games last week.

Macedonia vs Ireland Predictions

Ireland won’t be too happy with a draw here as it could knock them out of first place as Russia plays Armenia and Slovakia takes on Andorra. However, it looks like that might be all they get out of this road trip as this match points to a 1-1 draw. Bet on the game online at Bet365

Also, bin Hammam, who was the only opponent to Blatter in FIFA’s upcoming election on June 1st, pulled out of it. This means Blatter will run unopposed and is more or less guaranteed to wreak his havoc on the soccer world for his fourth term until 2015. The only good news in any of this is that Blatter promised he won’t run for the presidency again after his term expires in four years.

It’s hard to understand how FIFA can effectively investigate Blatter though as he’s running the show over there in Switzerland. An independent investigation needs to be carried out or the world’s soccer teams should all start pulling out of the organization and create a new one.

Warner and bin Hammam supposedly offered $40,000 to a couple of dozen officials in the Caribbean if they’d vote for him in the election. The bribes supposedly took place as recent as May-10-11th during meetings in Trinidad, where Warner hails from. The allegations were made by American Chuck Blazer, who’s also a FIFA committee and a long time supporter of Warner.

Blazer said the bribes had been planned for a long time and more evidence would come out soon. If they’re found guilty, bin Hammam and Warner could be booted out of FIFA. Bin Hammam said Blatter knew about the offers to Caribbean members and approved of them, but did admit Blatter may have thought they were some type of development funds.

Warner then came out and accused Blatter of giving $1 million to CONCACAF to spend anyway it had to as long as member nations voted to re-elect him. In another scandal, eight of FIFA’s 24 executive committee members were accused of offering to sell or selling their votes for the next two World Cups in 2018 and 2022. Two of them were suspended and four others accused of trying to sell their vote for England’s World Cup bid in 2018 were cleared.

Sweden made it to the final after surprising the Czech Republic 5-2 in the semi-finals. The Swedes fell behind 1-0 in the second period only to take a 2-1 lead into the third. They extended it to 4-1 before the Czechs made things interesting at 4-2 with about five minutes to go. However, The Swedes wrapped it up at 5-2 when they scored an empty net goal with 47 seconds to go in the game.

Patrik Berglund led the way with two goals and Louie Eriksson was stopped on a penalty shot. Mikael Backlund added a goal and assist with Marcus Kruger and Jimmie Ericsson scoring a goal each. Viktor Fasth made 35 saves on 37 shots for the win. Sweden outshot the Czechs 47-37.

Finland shutout Russia 3-0 in their semi-final matchup. Mikael Granlund scored in the second period with Jarkko Immonen and Jani Lajunen adding third period goals to seal the victory. Petri Vehanen made 30 saves for the shutout.

Immonen leads the tournament in scoring with eight goals and three assists for 11 points with teammate Granlund in ninth spot with two goals and six assists for eight points. Sweden’s Patrik Berglund is in second place with eight goals and two assists for 10 points. Fasth is the leading goaltender with a save percentage of 96.83 and a goals-against-average of 1.00. He also has three shutouts. Vehanen is the second-best goalie with a 95.07 save percentage and a goals-against-average of 1.28 with one shutout.

Predictions of the 2011 Final

As you can imagine, this game should be very close with both teams possessing excellent scoring and goaltending. It wouldn’t be a surprise if it was tied after 60 minutes and headed into overtime.

Nordicbet has the odds of 2.50 for a Swedish win and 2.32 for a 60-min win for the Finns, this together with over 40 other odds for this game. US friendly Intertops.com offers a great odds selection for US punters.

Russia has been struggling in the tournament so far, but there’s always more motivation when they play their arch rivals from Canada. They scored two goals in the last 12 minutes of the game to erase a 1-0 deficit and knock Canada out of the tournament with a 2-1 win. Finland also overcame a 1-0 deficit and scored four straight goals for a 4-1 victory.

Jarkko Immonen of Finland now leads the tournament in scoring with seven goals and two assists for nine points after seven games. There are no Russians in the top-10 scorers list and Ilya Kovalchuk finally scored for them in the game against Canada. Alexander Ovechkin has been held off the scoreboard so far in the event.

Russia’s Konstantin Barulin is the fifth-ranked goalie so far with a save percentage of 92.59 and a goals-against-average of 2.21. He’s been solid, but not spectacular.

The top-ranked Russians might have saved their best for Canada and could take their foot off of the pedal against fourth-ranked Finland. If they do, they’ll end up paying for it as Finland is a solid team and has been playing some excellent hockey. The Russians will have to keep Immonen in check and take advantage of their own scoring chances.

Like most games in this playoff round so far, this should be another close one with the Finns edging out a one-goal decision. Bet on the game at Nordicbet!

The fourth-ranked Czechs won both their preliminary (Group D) and qualification round groups (Group E) and have yet to taste defeat so far in the tournament. They made it to the semi-finals after shutting out the USA 4-0 in the quarterfinals.

Third-ranked Sweden won their preliminary group (Group C) and then came in second in their qualification group (Group F). They made it to the semi-finals after beating Germany 5-2 in the quarterfinals.

The Czechs have been the strongest team in the tournament so far as they’ve received excellent efforts from everybody from the goaltender out. Tomas Plekanec and Jaromir Jagr had an excellent quarterfinal against Germany and lead the offense. Both players have five goals and three assists in the tournament, with Jagr scoring a hat-trick against Germany. Ondrej Pavelec has been excellent in net and is the second-best goalie in the event with 95.54 save percentage and a 1.17 goals-against-average with two shutouts.

However, Sweden has the top goalie in the tournament in Viktor Fasth. He has a save percentage of 97.37 and a goals-against-average of 0.80 with three shutouts so far. Patrik Berglund is leading the offense with six goals and two assists.

Predictions

This game will feature the Czech offense against the Swedish goaltending and it should be a close affair. It looks like the Czechs are on a roll though and they should get by the Swedes by two goals at the most.

Nordicbet.com has the odds of a Czech Republic win at 1.80 and they offer a lot of special odds for all WC betting matches

Finland is ranked fourth, but has still played better than most people expected. They finished second place in qualification Group E with a record of two wins, two overtime wins and a loss for 10 points. Norway, ranked 11th, was also a huge surprise as they finished in third place in qualification Group F with two wins, an overtime win and two losses for eight points.

Norway edged Switzerland 3-2 in their first qualifying game and were then beaten by Canada by the same score. They finished the qualifying stage with a 5-2 win over France.

Finland edged Russia 5-4 in a penalty shootout in their first qualifier and then edged hosts Slovakia 2-1 with two third-period goals. They finished the round with a 3-2 shootout win over Russia.

Finland has managed to win a lot of close games and has been led offensively by Jarkko Immonen with his five goals and two assists. Norway has four players in the top-10 scoring in the tournament. Mathis Olimb has a goal and eight assists, Marius Holtet has six goals and two assists, while Anders Bastiansen and Per-Age Skroder each have three goals and four assists.

Betting tips Finland vs Norway

This should be a very close game as it will be the offensive Norwegians against the defensive Finns. However, Norway has a lot of scoring threats and it will be hard to keep them all off the board. The Norwegians could take this game by a goal when all is said and done.

Ladbrokes has the odds of a Norway win at 13/2 with a Finland win at 3/10. The odds of a draw after 60 minutes are 10/3

The Czechs finished on top of their qualification group (Group E) with 15 points from five wins, including points brought over from the preliminary round. They beat host nation Slovakia 3-2 in their first qualification game and then edged the Russians by the same score. They then wound up the qualification round by handing the Germans a 5-2 loss.

We bet on the Czech’s to take a simple win!

The USA finished in fourth place in Group F. They had seven points on two wins, an overtime loss and two losses. They started the qualification group by losing 4-3 in a penalty shootout to Canada before edging France 3-2. They finished the round by losing 5-3 to Switzerland.

This is one of the strongest Czech teams in recent memory even though they have squeaked out a few wins by just one goal. On the other side, it’s one of the weakest US teams. The scoring has been spread out on the Czech team with Patrik Elias leading the way with two goals and five assists for seven points. Derek Stepan also has two goals and five assists to lead the Americans.

Ondrej Pavelec of the Czech Republic has the second-best goaltending record with a save percentage of 94.53 and a goals-against-average of 1.40 with one shutout.

USA vs Czech Rep Predictions

The Czechs look to be too strong for the Americans in all departments and should take this game by two or three goals.

SportsInteraction has the odds of a Czech Republic win by at least two goals at -111 (1.90).

Bet on the World Championships at SportsInteraction!

Canada edged the USA 4-3 in a shootout in their first game and then snuck by Norway 3-2. They haven’t been playing as well as their record indicates and have been receiving mediocre goaltending. However, they always seem to find a way to come out on top.

Sweden opened their qualification round with a 4-0 shutout over France and then a 2-0 shutout over Switzerland. Viktor Fasth stopped 29 shots against France and 31 more against the Swiss. He’s the leading goaltender in the tournament with two shutouts, a save percentage of 97.62 and a goals-against-average of 0.67. Patrik Berglund has five goals in four games for Sweden.

Canada vs Sweden Predictions

This will be Canada’s toughest test in the tournament so far and it will feature the speed and youth of the Swedes against the physical style of the Canadians. John Tavares has been Canada’s top player so far and this will be a battle between the scoring power of Canada and the hoot Swedish goaltending.

Look for the Swedes to win by one or two goals. Bet now at SportsInteraction and claim $125 Bonus