We Don't Need No Education....

...Yes you do, you just used a double negative

Evening. Having looked at a few individual players for the Golden Boot contest at the World Cup, it's time to start looking at the teams themselves. Who'll go far? Who'll be sent packing with their tails betwixt their legs? Who will be the surprise packages? Will there be a decent fantasy football competition? Blogs about these and more are on the way

The logical place to start is, of course, Group A. But This blog doesn't work like that, so we'll shift along the wallchart (When Saturday Comes have a good one) and look at Group B, featuring Spain, Holland, Chile and Australia

A Step Too Far?
Spain's tournament pedigree these days is second to none (it's no coincidence that their youth teams have also been serial winning machines over the last decade). It's hard to avoid, however, a niggling feeling that we may be witnessing an era in its final throes not only with this current side, but also the Barcelona side who share so many of their players and defining characteristics- their sterile domination based on possession and ball retention has been at times brutally exposed by exponents of a rapid contain and counter style. Concerns must also exist over how much football many of their players have played this season, from those that have played perhaps too much (a number of the Barcelona and Atletico players will clear 60 games  this season by the time the tournament starts) to those who have perhaps played too little (Casillas, Torres, Llorente and Negredo have all struggled to get regular football this season), while as useful as Diego Costa will no doubt prove long-term, there must be question marks about how long it will take for his ultra-aggressive, physical game will fit into the precise passing unit that is La Seleccion. We leapt past Group A initially, but it's necessary to look back there for a second, simply to see the likely 2nd round opponents of the runner-up from this group: Brazil. Prediction: Pain for Spain

The rest of Group B looks like a straight fight between Chile and Holland (which should be fun, considering both teams have noteworthy history of World Cup scraps). Holland cruised through what was a very weak qualifying group, but there are serious doubts about their defence, which is hugely inexperienced at the top level. There are rumours flying around about Louis Van Gaal- the only one we'll look at here is that he's considering going with a 5-3-2 formation this summer. if your defenders aren't up to much, I guess it makes sense to play more of them. At the 2010 World Cup, Chile were a wonderfully adventurous, attacking, free-flowing side under the, well, mad, Marcelo Bielsa- his successor Jorge Sampaoli has continued much of his good work- expect Chile to once again be a fabulously entertaining watch. They're not without their vulnerabilities (goalkeeper Claudio Bravo is highly catastrophe-prone, and they're not exactly the tallest side, and thus poorly equipped to deal with set piece bombardment) and so can't really be considered potential winners, but they've more than enough firepower to outscore the Dutch and give Spain a hell of a fright. Nobody should expect anything from a youthful Australia side with one eye on the 2018 World Cup

SCOTTY 2 HOTTY: STILL GOT IT