The World Cup 2014 tournament is starting up and it has live stream and TV coverage from ESPN, ABC and the WatchESPN website for the monthlong tourney and 32 teams have group matches starting up after June 12 when Brazil kicks off against Croatia and that match starts at 4 pm ET on ESPN from the Arena Corinthians from Sao Paulo.
Group A has the home nation of Brazil in the tournament and they matchup with Mexico, Croatia and Cameroon in the tourney. Brazil opens with Croatia and then plays against Mexico before finishing the group stage with Cameroon and the host team is a favorite for the tournament along with Spain, Germany and Argentina. Mexico is in the tournament after winning a playoff with New Zealand and that came after the United States won over Panama in extra time to knock them out and keep Mexico alive and they have a tough group to get out of.
Spain comes in as the defending champions and they are in Group B and are the favorites out of that set with the Netherlands, Chile and Australia also in that draw. Spain opens with the Dutch before playing Chile and the team then plays against Australia for their final game in the group stage and Group finishes off on June 23. The schedule for Group C picks up on June 14 with Colombia and Greece going at it before the Ivory Coast and Japan matchup and the teams in that group play through June 24 on the schedule before finishing the group stage.
Group D also has another tough grouping with England, Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica and the English are coming in with high expectations after the way they played last tournament. Wayne Rooney and his teammates will be looking to open with a strong performance against Italy and that will be in Manaus at the Arena Amazonia. Uruguay will be a tough team to play against if Luis Suarez is back at full strength and England continues their schedule with that team before finishing with Costa Rica.
Group E has the Swiss along with France, Honduras and Ecuador starting on June 15 and the French are looking to rebound after a bad performance in South Africa and that comes as Group F kicks off as well. Argentina is the favorite in Group F and that should be easy to get out of, while Group G is considered the group of death in this tournament with the United States, Ghana and Portugal playing in that draw. The US opens with Ghana in Natal and they are the team that knocked out the United States in the past two World Cup tournaments. Portugal may have Cristiano Ronaldo back at full strength soon, while Germany is a favorite for the knockout stages from this group.
Check here for the full World Cup TV schedule and group match times for Brazil 2014.
