Football World Cup 2014 » Winner – Teams – Statistics – History

Participating Teams of the 2014 World Cup Finals

The following teams from six confederations participated in the 2014 FIFA World Cup Finals:

Group A

Brazil

Croatia

Mexico

Cameroon

Group B

Spain

Netherlands

Chile

Australia

Group C

Colombia

Greece

Côte d'Ivoire

Japan

Group D

Uruguay

Costa Rica

England

Italy

Group E

Switzerland

Ecuador

France

Honduras

Group F

Argentina

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Iran

Nigeria

Group G

Germany

Portugal

Ghana

United States

Group H

Belgium

Algeria

Russia

South Korea

Every team that has ever won the World Cup since the tournament started in 1930 participated. Twenty-four of these teams participated in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Herzegovina and Bosnia were the only team that did not have an appearance at any of the World Cup finals. Belgium and Russia returned after 12 years. Colombia participated in the finals tournament after being absent for 16 years.

Also, this was the first World Cup finals for 32 years that didn’t feature any representative of the Nordic nations. The lowest ranked team to participate was Australia; the highest ranked one that didn’t qualify was Ukraine.

Winner of the World Cup 2014

In the 2014 World Cup final, Germany defeated Argentina in extra time to win the tournament. Mario Götze scored the only goal after collecting the cross by André Schürrle from the left. He volleyed a high left-footed shot that gave their team victory. That was the third final match between the two nations. It was a World Cup record after the country’s 1986 and 1990 matches.

Germany deserved to be winners; the team kicked off the tournament thrashing Portugal 4-0. In the quarter-finals of the tournament, they beat France 1-0 and set a new World Cup record with a total of four consecutive appearances in the semi-final. Klose set another record and became the first player to participate in four semi-finals of the tournament. With a historic 7-1 victory over Brazil, the German team qualified for the World Cup final, making it their eighth time to do so. The defeat was the biggest in Brazilian football history since 1920.

They played an enterprising and attractive football throughout the tournament. That was the country’s first world title after the 1990 German reunification. Also, when the team was as West German, it defeated Argentina in the 1990 FIFA World Cup final. German was the first team in Europe to win a football World Cup that took place in the Americas. The 2014 results also marked the first time in history that countries from the same continent managed to win three consecutive tournaments.

The Story of 2014 FIFA World Cup

FIFA announced in March 2003 that the World Cup would be staged in South America. The last time it took place on the continent was in 1978. It was the second consecutive time for it to be held outside of Europe. That was the first time to happen in the history of the World Cup tournament.

In the Southern Hemisphere, it was the second time. Only Colombia and Brazil formally declared their candidacy. On 30 Oct. 2007, Brazil was elected as the host nation unopposed.

The 32 participating national teams were drawn into 8 groups. In preparation for that, they were arranged in four pots. The seven teams that were ranked the highest joined the host nation in the seeded pot. FIFA was aiming to create groups that maximised geographic separation. They arranged the unseeded teams into pots, taking geographic considerations. The draw was held on December 6, 2013, in Bahia. Teams were drawn by several players who were winners of the past World Cups.

Each team’s squad had 23 players (three of them were goalkeepers). All national association that participated confirmed their final 23-player squads before ten days of the tournament kick off. Teams were allowed to make late replacements if a player got serious injury within 24 hours before starting their first game.

Twelve venues (five renovated and seven new) in 12 cities were chosen for the tournament. They covered all the main Brazil regions. That made a more evenly distributed hosting when compared to the 1950 finals that took place in the same country. However, the teams required to travel a long distance to get to the venues. During the 2014 World Cup, the cities in Brazil were home to the teams that participated in the tournament at 32 different base camps. They also staged official fan fests for supporters to view the games.

To avoid ghost goals (phantom goals), this World Cup introduced the goal-line technology after successful trials like at the 2013 Confederations Cup. The selected Goal Control System had 14 high-speed cameras. Seven of them focused on each goal. The collected data were then sent to the main image-processing centre. Here the ball’s virtual representation was output on a screen for confirming a goal. The referee had a watch that vibrated and showed a signal after the goal confirmation. When France was playing Honduras in their group game, their second goal was the first time the technology was used in the tournament.

FIFA approved referees to use vanishing foam for the first time in the World Cup. The water-based spray disappears within minutes after application. It’s used for marking a line for the ten yards required for the defending team whenever there is a free kick. It also draws a line where the ball will be placed during a free kick.

The 2014 World Cup official match ball was the Adidas Brazuca, the ball had increased consistency and aerodynamics than the one used in the 2010 World Cup.