Brazil 2014: Group D Preview

Officially Group D is the toughest group according to the FIFA rankings. 3 top 10 sides of Uruguay, Italy and England, plus Costa Rica. Lose a game and that country will struggle to qualify. Winners and runners-up will play the successful countries from Group C.

Uruguay. 7th in the FIFA rankings, but not fancied to get to the final this time. 2 times winners, and semi-finalist in 2010. A fit Luis Suarez will be important to Uruguay’s success.

Star Man. Liverpool’s Luis Suarez, will need to be free of injury, and much will depend on how the rest of the team copes if he is shut out. Unexpected hero? Christian Stuani, the 23 year-old striker from Espanyol.

Italy. 4 times winners of the tournament, and were runners-up in the Euros 2012 (to Spain). Huge expectations to do well, and they should be able to do so. Will hold the ball up, forcing the opposition on to them leaving gaps which their key players will exploit. Stumbled through their warm-up games that included a surprise 1-1 draw with Luxembourg.

Star Man. Andrea Pirlo despite being 35 years-old still has all the silky skills to unlock the opposition, as well as sitting in front of the defence to protect the route through. Unexpected hero? AC Milan’s 21 year-old defender, Mattia de Sciglio .

England. A nation expects. Possibly one of the lowest expectations of success for England for a very long time. Will help them massively, but this tournament is still likely to a testing ground for future tournaments. No real stand out players means that Hodgson will set the team up to contain. Could well get the accolade of the most boring team in the tournament.

Star Man. Steven Gerrard. The Liverpool player had a good season for the Club, has a few Liverpool team mates around him. so will have the confidence to try to dominate the game. Unexpected hero? The 19 year-old Raheem Sterling Liverpool has shown he has something about him. Got sent off in the friendly against Ecuador though.

Costa Rica. Not at the tournament to make up the numbers. Ranked 28th in the world, qualified from their group in 2nd behind the USA. Tight in defence, with no goals conceded in their 4 warm-up games. Need to adapt to the lost of 2 key players forward Alvaro Saborio and full-back Bryan Oviedo.

Star Man. The 28 year-old PSV Eindholven forward Bryan Ruiz. 13 goals in 63 games for Costa Rica. Can he deliver for Costa Rica? Unexpected hero? Deportivo Saprissa‘s 22 year-old midfielder Yeltsin Tejeda.

Prediction. 1st Uruguay, 2nd Italy, 3 Costa Rica and 4th England.

Group D Fixtures

Saturday 14th June	Uruguay v Costa Rica	20:00	Estádio Castelão, Fortaleza	ITV
Saturday 14th June	England v Italy	23:00	Arena da Amazônia, Manaus	BBC 1
Thursday 19th June	Uruguay v England	20:00	Arena de São Paulo, São Paulo	ITV
Friday 20th June	Italy v Costa Rica	17:00	Arena Pernambuco, Recife	BBC 1
Tuesday 24th June	Italy v Uruguay	17:00	Arena das Dunas, Natal	ITV4
Tuesday 24th June	Costa Rica v England	17:00	Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte	ITV