# Brasil 2014
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [May 6, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840 "2014-05-06T21:19:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/101 "2014-06-02T19:03:17Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#):
>
> I’m new here, is a little bit of whimsy not allowed?
Absolutely none.
---
### Author:  [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/102 "2014-06-02T20:28:47Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#):
>
> I’m pretty sure both the BBC and ITV branded their coverage as “Italia '90”
Actually not. Just World Cup '90 or World Cup Grandstand.
---
### Author:  [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/103 "2014-06-02T21:44:03Z")
> [@Knorf](#):
>
> I don’t see why it’s controversial that USA beating Germany in a friendly last spring, something that _had never happened before_,…
[It actually has happened before.](http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2014/03/17/12/09/inspired-u-s-national-team-stuns-germany-3-0) The US beat Germany 3-0 in Jacksonville, FL, in 1999. I was in grad school at UFlorida at the time, and I wanted to go. Sadly, I was going to be out of town. I told my German grad school mate about it, though. He rounded up some of his German buddies and attended. His report afterward, “Germany didn’t even try to suck.” I chuckled.
---
### Author:  [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/104 "2014-06-02T21:55:29Z")
The combined wisdom of all bookmakers i could find:
Group A
Brasil
Croatia
Mexico
Cameroon
Group B
Spain
Holland
Chile
Australia
Group C
Columbia
Côte d’Ivoire
Japan
Greece
group D
Italia
Uruguay
England
Costa Rica
Group E
France
Schweiz
Ecuador
Honduras
Group f
Argentina
Bosnia Herzegovina
Niger
Iran
Group G
Deutschland
Portugal
USA
Ghana
Group H
België
Russia
S,Korea
Algeria
1/4:
Brasil-Columbia
France-Deutschland
Spain-Italia
Argentina-Portugal
1/2
Brasil-Deutschland
Spain-Argentina
3rd Deutschland
2nd Spain
1st Brasil
I’d love for more people to post some predictions. A fun way of finding out if you know anything about the game.
---
### Author:  [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/105 "2014-06-02T22:54:05Z")
> [@mcgato](#):
>
> [It actually has happened before.](http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2014/03/17/12/09/inspired-u-s-national-team-stuns-germany-3-0) The US beat Germany 3-0 in Jacksonville, FL, in 1999. I was in grad school at UFlorida at the time, and I wanted to go. Sadly, I was going to be out of town. I told my German grad school mate about it, though. He rounded up some of his German buddies and attended. His report afterward, “Germany didn’t even try to suck.” I chuckled.
I remember that game. As pleased as I was to see the USMNST win that one I got the feeling right from the very get-go that the Germans couldn’t have cared less about the outcome of it. Three goals against Oliver Kahn? The same guy who wowed everybody with his save three years later in South Korea/Japan? I’m almost ALWAYS happy to see the German team lose but neither of the USMNST’s wins over Germany have really meant much (to say the least).
---
### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/106 "2014-06-02T23:01:53Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#):
>
> I’m pretty sure both the BBC and ITV branded their coverage as “Italia '90”
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> They did (and _Nessun Dorma_ has been in my music rotation permanently since!)
> [@Ximenean](#):
>
> Actually not. Just World Cup '90 or World Cup Grandstand.
Weird. I have a very distinct memory of seeing the introductory titles on BBC or ITV with Nessun Dorma and “Italia '90” graphics spinning around the World Cup trophy, but only the first part is true. **Ximenean** has it right. 😕
---
### Author:  [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/107 "2014-06-03T00:12:07Z")
> [@mcgato](#):
>
> [It actually has happened before.](http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2014/03/17/12/09/inspired-u-s-national-team-stuns-germany-3-0) The US beat Germany 3-0 in Jacksonville, FL, in 1999. I was in grad school at UFlorida at the time, and I wanted to go. Sadly, I was going to be out of town. I told my German grad school mate about it, though. He rounded up some of his German buddies and attended. His report afterward, “Germany didn’t even try to suck.” I chuckled.
Huh. Could have sworn I read it was the first time that had happened. Well, my mistake. Thanks for the correction.
---
### Author:  [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/108 "2014-06-03T08:56:06Z")
> [@The\_Librarian](#):
>
> The combined wisdom of all bookmakers i could find:
> Group A
>
> Brasil
> Croatia
> Mexico
> Cameroon
>
> Group B
>
> Spain
> Holland
> Chile
> Australia
>
> Group C
>
> Columbia
> Côte d’Ivoire
> Japan
> Greece
>
> group D
>
> Italia
> Uruguay
> England
> Costa Rica
>
> Group E
>
> France
> Schweiz
> Ecuador
> Honduras
>
> Group f
>
> Argentina
> Bosnia Herzegovina
> Niger
> Iran
>
> Group G
>
> Deutschland
> Portugal
> USA
> Ghana
>
> Group H
>
> België
> Russia
> S,Korea
> Algeria
>
> 1/4:
>
> Brasil-Columbia
> France-Deutschland
> Spain-Italia
> Argentina-Portugal
>
> 1/2
>
> Brasil-Deutschland
> Spain-Argentina
>
> 3rd Deutschland
> 2nd Spain
> 1st Brasil
> I’d love for more people to post some predictions. A fun way of finding out if you know anything about the game.
Any particular reason why you only translated some of the names? Trying to be a bit clever but then realised you couldn’t actually be arsed and so tried to get away with it?
Edit:
And whilst we’re at it, I’m pretty sure it is Nigeria in Group F, not Niger. Nigeria and Niger being different countries and all that. Maybe you should have just written them all in English.
---
### Author:  [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/109 "2014-06-03T09:49:15Z")
[Here are](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15380630&postcount=16) my uninformed guesses from nearly two years ago:
> [@](#):
>
> My random guesses;
>
> \*Spain to finish last in their group and be eliminated, just like the last two European winners of the Cup.
> \*Brazil to choke under the insane pressure in the knock-out stages, probably in a quarterfinal.
> \*Only CONMEBOL and UEFA teams make it past the first knockout round.
> \*Germany wins.
Pretty happy with all but the last still
---
### Author:  [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/110 "2014-06-03T11:54:49Z")
> [@Cumbrian](#):
>
> That would be because that says “French '98” or “The French Language '98” if we’re being really picky. France is France in French (as it were).
Doh! Schoolboy error (and a very junior schoolboy at that). In my defence, I studied German at school rather than French. My general point still stands, though it does seem to be somewhat inconsistent. Perhaps the rule is “if it looks almost the same in the native language as in English [e.g. Italia, France, Brasil] we’ll go with that, otherwise just use English [e.g. Germany, Japan/South Korea].”
---
### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/111 "2014-06-03T11:56:24Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> **Ximenean** has it right. 😕
It’s odd how memory works, heh. If only my memories of the Scotland - Costa Rica game were similarly wrong.
---
### Author:  [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/112 "2014-06-03T12:12:14Z")
> [@Erdosain](#):
>
> Well, if that’s the level of pedantry you aspire to, you should have pointed out that it’s Côte d’Ivoire.
_Shrugs_ It’s not a big deal. I know it might look like I think it is, but this is a message board and so I consider a “Brasil/Brazil” debate to be an amusing distraction. It _is_ a little weird because Brazil is the only country I can think of where people will deliberately spell it in a foreign way - I’ve seen it before in other contexts.
And I do say “Côte d’Ivoire” (most of the time).
---
### Author:  [@Cumbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumbrian)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/113 "2014-06-03T12:55:18Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#):
>
> Doh! Schoolboy error (and a very junior schoolboy at that). In my defence, I studied German at school rather than French. My general point still stands, though it does seem to be somewhat inconsistent. Perhaps the rule is “if it looks almost the same in the native language as in English [e.g. Italia, France, Brasil] we’ll go with that, otherwise just use English [e.g. Germany, Japan/South Korea].”
I was looking into this and the naming of the tournaments does, to an extent, seem to follow this idea (of if it is broadly close to English we’ll use it) and has done (sort of) since 1970. If you look up the official world cup posters for past tournaments online, you get Mexico '70, Argentina '78, Espana '82, Italia '90, World Cup USA '94 and France '98 (I didn’t see posters for the tournaments I missed out - probably due to my own blindness). Then there is a real break point because they put it in two countries for 2002 and Germany 2006 seemed to be within a FIFA World Cup sort of thing, as was South Africa 2010. This seems to be the first tournament in a while that says “Country Year” as a piece of branding.
---
### Author:  [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/114 "2014-06-03T13:06:50Z")
> [@lisiate](#):
>
> [Here are](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15380630&postcount=16) my uninformed guesses from nearly two years ago:
>
> Pretty happy with all but the last still
Everybody, it seems, LOVES to suck the German team off, but not being a fan of that team I will remind EVERYBODY that the German men’s national soccer team hasn’t lifted a trophy since 1996 and I REALLY don’t see it doing that this year, either. Not in Brasil (I’m not going to get drawn into a debate on this. Brasilians spell it with an “s” and I’m following suit). I hope I’m right.
---
### Author:  [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/115 "2014-06-03T13:09:04Z")
> [@The\_Librarian](#):
>
> The combined wisdom of all bookmakers i could find:
> Group A
>
> Brasil
> Croatia
> Mexico
> Cameroon
>
> Group B
>
> Spain
> Holland
> Chile
> Australia
>
> Group C
>
> **Columbia**
> Côte d’Ivoire
> Japan
> Greece
>
> group D
>
> Italia
> Uruguay
> England
> Costa Rica
>
> Group E
>
> France
> Schweiz
> Ecuador
> Honduras
>
> Group f
>
> Argentina
> Bosnia Herzegovina
> Niger
> Iran
>
> Group G
>
> Deutschland
> Portugal
> USA
> Ghana
>
> Group H
>
> België
> Russia
> S,Korea
> Algeria
>
> 1/4:
>
> Brasil-Columbia
> France-Deutschland
> Spain-Italia
> Argentina-Portugal
>
> 1/2
>
> Brasil-Deutschland
> Spain-Argentina
>
> 3rd Deutschland
> 2nd Spain
> 1st Brasil
> I’d love for more people to post some predictions. A fun way of finding out if you know anything about the game.
And Col **o** mbia is spelled with two "o"s in Spanish. People getting that wrong sticks in my craw.
---
### Author:  [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/116 "2014-06-03T13:23:59Z")
> [@amanset](#):
>
> Any particular reason why you only translated some of the names? Trying to be a bit clever but then realised you couldn’t actually be arsed and so tried to get away with it?
>
> Edit:
> And whilst we’re at it, I’m pretty sure it is Nigeria in Group F, not Niger. Nigeria and Niger being different countries and all that. Maybe you should have just written them all in English.
English isn’t exactly my first language, I wrote the names in a fashion I thought you’d understand.
---
### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/117 "2014-06-03T13:31:18Z")
> [@racepug](#):
>
> And Col **o** mbia is spelled with two "o"s in Spanish. People getting that wrong sticks in my craw.
It’s spelled that way in US English too. Took me a while to grok that.
---
### Author:  [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/118 "2014-06-03T13:39:31Z")
I blame Columbus
---
### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/119 "2014-06-03T13:48:11Z")
Colombos. 😉
---
### Author:  [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brasil-2014/687840/120 "2014-06-03T13:53:07Z")
> [@The\_Librarian](#):
>
> English isn’t exactly my first language, I wrote the names in a fashion I thought you’d understand.
Dictionaries are so hard to use.
Pro tip: go to Wikipedia and look at up the page in your native language for a given country. Then, on the left click “English”. Lo behold you get the page in English for the country you want, with an English title and everything.
Example:
> **[Нигерия](https://ba.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F)**
>
> «Берҙәмлек һәм ышаныс, Тыныслыҡ һәм прогресс»»
> Вице-президент
> Йеми Осинбаджо
> Нигерия Федератив Республикаһы — Африкалағы дәүләт. Нигерия Көнбайыш Африкала урынлашҡан һәм Бенин, Нигер, Чад һәм Камерун менән сиктәш. Илдең көньяғында Гвинея ҡултығы урынлашҡан, ярҙары Атлантик океан менән йыуыла. Нигерияла 500-ҙән ашыу тел бар. Күп һанлы халыҡтар: хауса, йоруба, игбо һ. б.
Click on English:
> **[Nigeria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria)**
>
> Nigeria,\[a\] officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of 923,769 square kilometres (356,669 sq mi). With a population of more than 230 million, it is the most populous country in Africa, and the world's sixth-most populous country. Nigeria borders Niger in the north, Chad in the northeast, Cameroon in the east, and Benin in the west. Nigeria...
There really is no excuse for being just wrong. And yes, I live somewhere foreign. I have to look shit up all the time.
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