Barca @ the BRAZIL FIFA World Cup 2014 - Let The Show Begin!

World Cup 2014 will kick off tonight with a mouth-watering match between host Brazil and Croatia. With that a month long festival of football will officially begin. New heroes will emerge along with some greats who will consolidate their place in history books. This promises to be one of the most exciting Football World Cup with so many teams featuring excellent attacking talents. The top contenders Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Germany, Uruguay, Italy, Belgium etc. all have an exciting attacking line-up. That could make this World Cup one of the most entertaining in living memory. Last World Cup in South Africa had its fair share of criticism especially about being negative, but this one at least on paper looks more promising. I don't think many team will try playing a defensive style especially considering where the World Cup is taking place. For all the entertainment Brazilian players have provided us, this World Cup is obligated to return in kind.

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Will the Curse of the "Confederation Cup" Sink Tournament Favourites Brazil?

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. Jim Rohn

A look through the odds set by the leading betting houses would give a picture of the front runners at this World cup. It does not surprise anyone to see Brazil placed on the top, with an odd of 3/1. Argentina surprisingly (at least for me!) is placed second at 4/1 ahead of Germany at 6/1 and Spain at 13/2. One may argue about placing Argentina ahead of Germany and Spain (may be the location being in South America mattered) but there is no argument about Brazil being favourites. They have been the favourites from the time they thrashed Spain at last year's confederation cup. Many pundits believe that they have got the most balanced squad in the competition and some even believe that they will just annihilate every opposition in the path.

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Ivan Rakitic to Join Barca for 20 Million Dollars! Is this a done deal?

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. Marcus Aurelius

The rumours are buzzing around about a deal between Sevilla and Barca for the potential signing of Ivan Rakitic. Catalan radio station, RAC1 has broke this story and what we are made to belive is that only few details are left to close this deal. Ivan Rakitic, who have a 40 Million buyout clause would join Barca for 15 Million + another 5 Million in bonus deal. This is made possible due to a clause in Rakitic current deal with Sevilla, which lowers his buyout clause if FC Barcelona or Real Madrid comes caling for his service. Both of them had arrived, and it is reported that the midfielder chose the Catalan giants ahead of the current UEFA Champions League winner. If the reported price is correct, then it's one hell of a grab for FC Barcelona and a huge loss for Sevilla.

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"Marco Reus is Not For Sale" says Dortmund, Who Cares we already bought him, didn't we?

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. Winston Churchill

Again those damn lies! It's just don't stop wouldn't it? Then this is transfer window is all about, at least for Sport and MundoDeportivo. Yesterday they were at it again; the front page was full of stories about Marco Reus arrival to Barca. This was supposed to complete in a matter of days, or so did they say. The way it was put forward, especially the ferocity made it a believable one to many. But all those dreams have just thrashed by a clear cut statement from Borussia Dortmund. One has to question whether the way the Spanish media was building up this story forced the German club to make an official statement. Dortmund's Sporting Director Michael Zorc made it crystal clear what he thought about these rumours when popped the question :

Firstly, Marco Reus has himself said he will play next season at Dortmund. And secondly, it would be of no use to make an offer because we have no intention of letting Marco go.Michael Zorc, Borussia Dortmund Director

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Bojan Krkic needs to Reset Himself to Kick Start his Career

Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement. C. S. Lewis

It's safe to say that everything that could have gone wrong have all went wrong in case of Bojan Krkić. From dubbed as the "Next Wonder Kid" out of La Masia, he has been relegated to the "Boy who lost his Way" quickly; and rightly so. His career so far resembles a Hollywood tragedy movie in full flow. Everything he has done to correct the course of his career has ended in bigger failures. But then fate alone is not to be blamed! Every coach he has worked with apart from Frank Rijkaard, have complained about his lack of intensity in training. It's the same story over and over again. Pep Guardiola questioned his intensity and attitude, it was the same at Roma and Milan and now with De Boer making it clear, he needs to take a good look at himself.

There is no substitute for hard work. Thomas .A. Edison

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World Cup 2014 - Despite Reus injury, Germany Looks Extremely Dangerous

Excellence is the unlimited ability to improve the quality of what you have to offer. Rick Pitino

Germany lands in Brazil as one of the clear favourites to win the 2014 World Cup. They did suffer a set back in the form of Marco Reus injury. Any team will miss a player like Reus, that's a fact without any question. But with the kind of depth Germany has, his injury may not matter much at all. The squad strength of the current German World cup squad will give shivers to opponent coaches. They have so many options and quality players in every position other than the forward. It's puzzled many who have followed the German youth set up. Germany is struggling to find quality strikers to fill in the squad. Out of the all squad in World Cup, they could be the only one with proper center forward, an ageing Miraslav Klose. The personal feud between Stefan Kießling and coach Joachim Löw is not helping either. Will this deficiency hurt German at the World Cup?

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Lionel Messi's Goal against Slovenia GIF

Lionel Messi goal against Slovenia in a friendly in the build up towards the World Cup. It's always nice to see Messi getting in to scoresheet especially for Argentina's fans. The goal in itself was superb team play with a brilliant over the top ball from Angel di Maria.

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Will England Surprise us all in World Cup 2014 | Italy, Uruguay and England in a Dog Fight

Surprise is key in all art. Oscar Niemeyer

Many a times we underestimates people's capability to surprise us, especially in Sports. Greece's 2004 European championship victory is the one event which comes to the mind instantaneously. There was no way they could have won that. No one gave them a chance. No one actually had to! It was illogical to even think about Greece's chances. The best one could hope for them was getting out of that group having Spain, Portugal and Russia. They were not supposed to come out of that group, but still they did and kept on surprising us one by one. And that's what happens when people rise about the reasoning of logic. Not sure whether it was supposed to happen, it just happened. To an extent the hope of Surprise is what keeps England's dream living on in this World Cup. They are in a Group where everything could be decided by the smallest of details.

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Now they say Laporte won't join | Barca Transfer Targets Getting Away

I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you. Friedrich Nietzsche

Now they say he is not going to join us! For weeks we have been bombarded with stories of how Barca have identified Aymeric Laporte as one of teh defensive reinforcements. Stories were broken about how the player and the FC Barcelona Futball club has reached personal agreement; how it's just a matter of time before we see the player wearing the renowned Barca jersey. Now they have a different take on all this. Why? Because Aymeric Laporte have renewed his contract with Atletic Bilbao, so did the club announced. Now the media pundits are saying that his arrival to Barca is not going to happen. one could ask why i never reported anything about this story. That's precisely because I never thought this will happen.

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Neymar's Amazing Goal against Rayo Vallacano GIF | Barca Images GIF

Neymar's amazing Goal GIF against Rayo Vallacano. This one of the best goal yet by Neymar wearing Barca's Jersey.

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Messi's Free Kick and Mascherano's Goal GIF

Mascherano scoring the goal from a Lionel Messi Free kick that hit the post against Trinidad.

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World Cup 2014 - Uruguay's Ambition will depend on Saurez's Fitness, perhaps England's too!

Big results require big ambitions. Winston Churchill

It's strange isn't it? The one player whose fitness mattered the most for you, whose form concerned you for the whole season, is the one you would be hoping to be injured! That might be how Liverpool fans might be feeling now. At least they are hoping that he miss the England match. Luis Suárez who is recovering from a knee surgery is expected to be fit for their second group match, against England. He is definite to miss the team's opener against Costa Rica, a match in which Uruguay hardly needs him. Their second match against England could define the destiny for both the team. So the "Group of Death" which features three former World Champions may in the end depend on whether a little Uruguayan named Luis Suárez recovers from injury in time.

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Spain Favourites to Defend Title in 2014 Brazil FIFA World CUP

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts Winston Churchill

People, especially critics have been too eager to write off Spain's chances in the 2014 World Cup. They argue that the 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Brazil in the Confederations Cup as a sign of the era of Spanish domination coming to end. It is quite strange, they almost said similar things ahead of the Euro 2012! They easily forgot that Spain was similarly poor in the last confederation cup, losing to United Stated 2-0. To read too much in to the poor performance in a single competition would be a folly. After all the players who were the rock behind Spain's success are still there and kicking, the reinforcements have been arriving in quick time too. The quality of the players in the squad is unbelievable, underlined by the fact that in the recently concluded Champions League final had nine Spanish players starting.

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World Cup 2014 - Calling Belgium a "Dark Horse" may not be Fair!

Believe you can and you're halfway there Theodore Roosevelt

The only reason why we should be allowed to call Belgium the "Dark Horses" has to be their lack of pedigree in the World Stage. Or a better reason could be our unending craving for a superlative narrative. Otherwise what's the logic? Ok, agreed they were never considered as the main contender by many pundits. Then that's precisely due to their uncanny ability to overlook hard core facts. These are the same pundits who used to pip "England" as firm favourites every World cup only to be left wondering what went wrong! Belgium currently lies in 12th position in the FIFA Ranking, one below England and two below Greece. Then that count for nothing as there is no other European squad which has quality spread across all the position like Belgium has. At least in terms of squad strength, Belgium is miles ahead of England and Greece. One look into final squad announced by Marc Wilmots, you all will understand I am placing them as a Genuine contender rather than a "Dark Horse".

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Lionel Messi and Argentina - Can they take Full Advantage of an easy Group in World Cup 2014?

A leader is a dealer in hope Napolean

Lionel Messi, the natural heir to the throne of Diego Maradona, had emulated Maradona in more than one occasion. The best of it was that replica of Diego Maradona's goal in 1986 and the worst was the shameful handball goal against Espanyol. Messi had grown tremendously in terms of skill and gamesmanship since that hand ball incident. It's quite rare to see Messi diving to get penalty or foul nowadays. There could be one or two minor incidents at the heat of the moment, regardless of those he has been an excellent ambassador for the beautiful game in all these years. Since the time he has decided to play for Argentina instead of Spain, his countrymen have been waiting for him to deliver the cup. Lionel Messi, without doubt would love to do that and emulate his idol Diego Maradona's feats in 1986 World cup. But to do that he may have to put behind the poor performances of the past, especially in 2010 World Cup.

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Ronaldinho vs Real Madrid Spectacular Goals | Barca Images GIF

The night when Ronaldinho was given a Standing Ovation at the Bernebeu was one of the most memorable moments in the last decade. The two goals mesmerized even the arch-rivals fans.

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Barcelona Transfer Targets - Miranda and Llorente gets linked with Barca

I hate to spread rumours, but what else can one do with them? Amanda Lear

That's the fun in all this! It doesn't have to make any sense, just being there will do. With the current state of affairs at Barca, anyone can create one, spread it like wild fire and almost make us believe that it's the truth. One have to admit the Catalonia based mediahouse, Sport is doing a good job at it. Let's admit it, we love them too. It's all fun to get up every morning with your club getting linked with a new star, the hope of endless possibility driving you crazy. The only problem is the usual disappointments that is associated with all this at the end of the transfer window. Barca fans have been subjected to that in the last two seasons. So it's better to take every rumour with a pinch of salt.

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Neymar Barca Videos - First Season at Barca

A brilliant compilation of Neymar's first season at Barca. May not have been spectacular and have been controversial at times. But the video shows the prospect of a very bright future ahead.

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David Luiz Transfermarkt - For Barca Fans it's Déjà Vu with David Luiz Transfer Saga

It’s déjà vu all over again.

With strong reports of David Luiz's impending transfer to PSG (this time from a much trustworthy news source) , Barca fans cannot help having that worse Déjà Vu feeling yet again. We have seen this earlier, isn't it! It happened last season, the season and will continue again this season, many a times. It's not a surprise any more, we have been trained to expect this and this alone for sometime. A week ago we were told that David Luiz transfer is all done and dusted. Of course the story was broken by Sport and some could argue I am a bit crazy to have believed this in first place. But once again, they were good at selling the dream and normally we couldn't stop ourselves from believing.

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La Liga "Team of the Year" - Lionel Messi & Co. Goes Missing

Barca's troubles of this season were beautifully described by La Liga when they announced the Team of the Season". Not even a single Barcelona player made the cut. The Champions Atletico Madrid as expected, dominated the line-up. They have Courtois, Godin, Luis, Juanfran, Koke, Gabi and Diego Costa in the line-up. Real Madrid have three players in the line-up in the form of Ronaldo, Bale and Ramos. It's been some time since Lionel Messi has missed out on the Team of the Season.

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Gerard "Tata" Martino, Barca Board could not have found an easier Scapegoat

It's too easy to criticize a man when he's out of favour, and to make him shoulder the blame for everybody else's mistakes. Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

In the end it was impossible for this to continue. From the heights of driving their fans to ecstasy with their performance in the field Barca has come a long way. There were too many occasion where one simply felt that the team was merely going through the motions. Even though we were so close to winning the League, we have indeed given up at many occasions. So there was no way Martino could have survived this, there is no point in surviving this. At Barca, how you win matters most, more than how much you win. The way we were playing in recent weeks turned the table completely on Martino. As a matter of fact, we weren't exactly winning also! So that didn't do him any favour either.

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Former Barca Footballer, Luis Enrique appointed First Team Manager

As widely speculated, FC Barcelona has confirmed the appointment of Luis Enrique as the First Team Manager for the next season. The two year deal would see him manage the club till the end of 2015-16 season. But then whether he will continue or not will depend definitely on the success of next season. This announcement was just a mere formality. Everyone knew that Luis Enrique would take over after Tata Martino announced his departure following the La Liga loss to Atletico Madrid. A day before Luis Enrique has announced in a press conference his departure from Celta de Vigo. Long before that there were serious speculations about him taking over from Martino, especially a very much publicized secret meeting between him and Barca Sporting Director Zubizarreta. It is believed that Luis Enrique is the Sporting director's pick.

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