Work is still being completed around São Paulo's Itaquerão stadium with a day to go until the opening game of the 2014 World Cup between Brazil and Croatia.

The stadium, which was supposed to be completed in December, faced numerous construction delays over the last 15 months.

Three workers have died working on the venue.

A temporary section of bleachers hadn't been approved by the fire department for the stadium's final test event on June 1, meaning it will head into the World Cup without ever holding a capacity crowd. The bleachers have since been approved, and the primary part of the stadium looks ready to go. But work is still being done.

Journalist Kety Shapazian posted a photo of one of the walkways outside the stadium on Wednesday. Workers are still finishing it and putting up a tarp to cover the scaffolding:

24 hours before opening ceremony, arena in São Paulo still not ready. Photo: Estadão. #WorldCupCountdownpic.twitter.com/fW59SpbxZJ

— Kety Shapazian (@KetyBrazil) June 11, 2014

Organizers maintain that everything will go according to plan on Thursday. About 1,300 people with tickets to the opening game had to swap their tickets for a different game after the configuration of the seats was changed. But FIFA says that it had nothing to do with construction delays.

The AP took some pictures around the stadium on Tuesday:

NOW WATCH: 13 Surprising Facts About Brazil

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The playing surface of Arena Amazonia in Manaus is patchy and streaked with dead grass three days before it hosts a massive World Cup group stage game between England and Italy.

The head groundsman at the stadium admitted that it'd be in "bad shape" for the game, telling the AP "We've started to implement an emergency plan to try to save the field and improve it as much as possible, but I don't think it'll be in good condition."

Matt Hughes of the Times of London toured the venue, which sits in the middle of the jungle, today and got some close-up photos of the field.

It's less than ideal:

The field has a brown tinge:

A FIFA source told Sky Sports that the grass died from "an excessive use of fertilizer."

"The maintenance has been complicated in Manaus. There're no roads, all the machinery and materials had to be brought by ship," the groundsman told the AP. "There's no fertilizer, no seeds. Everything has been complicated."

The U.S. plays Portugal in Manaus on Sunday, June 22.

SEE ALSO: 21 Photos Of Manaus, Brazil's Most Controversial World Cup Host City

NOW WATCH: 13 Surprising Facts About Brazil

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Landon Donovan, the all-time leading scorer in U.S. soccer history, isn't going to Brazil after Jurgen Klinsmann shockingly cut him from the 23-man World Cup roster.

Donovan said he was surprised and disappointed by the move.

But a great new ad from the LA Galaxy shows Donovan has a sense of humor about it. The conceit is that Donovan hasn't watched a World Cup from home in 12 years, so he doesn't get why the office is empty in the middle of the day.

It also features a cameo from the infamous Donovan water fountain photo:

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While the United States men's national team has an incredibly difficult group at the World Cup, it's not the Group of Death, at least according to the numbers.

The Group of Death is Group B, with Spain, Chile, the Netherlands, and Australia.

Here's the average team "soccer power index" ranking (an advanced stat invented by Nate Silver) for each group:

• Group B, 15.0 (Spain, Chile, Netherlands, Australia)
• Group D, 15.25 (Uruguay, England, Italy, Costa Rica)
• Group G, 16.25 (Germany, Portugal, USA, Ghana)
• Group E, 20.0 (France, Ecuador, Switzerland, Honduras)
• Group F, 20.25 (Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Nigeria, Iran)
• Group C, 20.25 (Colombia, Ivory Coast, Greece, Japan)
• Group A, 21.75 (Brazil, Mexico, Croatia, Cameroon)
• Group H, 31.0 (Belgium, Russia, South Korea, Algeria)

The groups are laughably uneven because FIFA uses its own flawed ranking system to make them. The average team in Group B is ranked 15 spots higher than the average team in Group H.

Spain is ranked 3rd, Chile 5th, and the Netherlands 10th in the world, according to SPI. If the groups were shuffled differently, it'd be plausible to see all three of them going to the semifinals. Instead, one of them is going home in the first round.

Chile is the outsider here, but a lot of people are picking them to get out of this group over Holland. Arturo Vidal is one of the best box-to-box midfielders in the world. In attack, Alexis Sanchez is coming off a fantastic year for Barcelona. Chile scored 29 goals in World Cup qualifying, second only to Argentina in South America.

Spain is one of the favorites to win the entire tournament. They've won three-straight major competitions (2008 Euros, 2010 World Cup, 2012 Euros). The injection of Diego Costa as a traditional striker should liven up a style of play that has gotten a bit stale in the last year or so.

The Netherlands made the final in 2010. The general feeling is that they've lost a step and are going to leak a ton of goals, but their attacking quality makes them dangerous in any game.

Poor Australia is going to get destroyed and go out after three games. It should give them some solace that a top-10 team will exit from the Group of Death with them.

SEE ALSO: What Brazil's Brand-New, $3.6-Billion World Cup Stadiums Looks Like

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A lot of people didn't think World Cup games should be held in Manaus.

The Amazonian city is 1,700 miles from Sao Paulo and surrounded by 2.1 million square miles of rain forest.

National team coaches have complained about the oppressive heat and humidity. Brazilians have complained about the exorbitant cost of building a soccer arena in the middle of the jungle — a city so remote that it took a 20-day boat voyage to deliver the steel to build the 42,000-seat stadium.

With just three days to go until the Italy-England game, the pitch at the Arena Amazonia is in horrible shape.

As these great photos from Reuters, Getty, and the AP show, Manaus is gorgeous (it sits on the banks of the Rio Negro), large (the 7th-biggest city in Brazil), and industrial (its free port is a hub of trade).

But given the construction costs, the travel headaches, and the playing conditions, it's also a head-scratching choice for a World Cup host city.

Manaus is 900 miles up the Amazon, and surrounded by rain forests.

It's an important shipping outpost for trading along the Amazon River.

It's also a hub for ecotourism. Here's a dock for tourist boat excursions along the Rio Negro.

The World Cup is no doubt the world’s biggest single-sport event. Every four years, national teams from around the world compete for the right to call themselves the World Champion. It is also an opportunity for individual players to make the world take notice. This year should be no different. Here is a list of ten players who are likely to make themselves known on the world’s biggest stage in Brazil.

1. Alan Dzagoev: Russia

Euro 2012 was unkind to Russia. The team beat the Czech Republic 4-1 in its first game and wound up not advancing to the knockout stages after a 1-0 loss to Greece due to the new UEFA tiebreaker rules. But in those three group stage games, Alan Dzagoev was clearly the best player. The CSKA Moscow playmaker scored three goals in Euro 2012, which is the same amount of goals scored as Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernando Torres, Mario Gomez, and Mario Balotelli in the same tournament. The only difference is Dzagoev’s Russian team was eliminated at the group stage.

Dzagoev will be relishing his chance to play against South Korea and Algeria because he loves to run into gaps between the midfield and the defense. Look for this attacking midfielder to create chances for his teammates and possibly score a few goals himself this summer.

2. Shinji Okazaki: Japan

The Japanese national soccer team is no longer a secret. While it isn’t the favorite to win the World Cup, this squad has the talent and capability of beating any team on any given day. Japan, along with South Korea, was selected to host the 2002 World Cup in 1996. It made an investment in how it brought along players in that year as well, and eighteen years later we are seeing the benefits from it. It was the first country to qualify for the World Cup in 2010 and again in 2014.

One player that will surely make the world take notice is Shinji Okazaki. He plays his club football for Mainz in the German Bundesliga and scores on a fairly regular basis. He averages about a goal every other game for Japan, which is by far the best strike rate of any other current forward from that country. Okazaki is also third on Japan’s all-time scoring list. This summer, expect the Japanese midfield of Shinji Kagawa and Keisuke Honda to feed this player passes into the box and get him many chances in front of goal.

3. Fredy Guarin: Colombia

If you know only one thing about the current Colombian national team, it would probably be how Radamel Falcao scores goals for fun. However, he suffered damage to his ACL and is out of the World Cup. Enter Fredy Guarin. This Inter Milan midfielder will have more attacking responsibility now that Falcao is not on the plane to Brazil. He is extremely athletic and can cover a lot of ground. He also has a rocket of a shot and likes to let them fly from long range.

Guarin’s performances for Inter Milan have been hit-or-miss, but he has what it takes to be a full on consistent hit this summer because more responsibility is on his shoulders. He will have to use his long-range ability and athleticism against Greece and the Ivory Coast due to defense being both teams’ priority. Whoever plays at the forward position for Colombia, expect Guarin to get them the ball in goal-scoring positions and to find himself in a few of those positions as well.

4. Joel Campbell: Costa Rica

Joel Campbell is a forward for Costa Rica who is currently on loan at Olympiakos in Greece but is under contract with Arsenal FC in England. He is a player who runs everything down and fights for every loose ball. Some defenders have described him as “pesky.” The 21-year-old is Costa Rica’s best option going forward because Costa Rica love to play a tight defense with many players behind the ball and then shock the opposing team on the counterattack.

Campbell’s small size and quick feet make him a nightmare for tall defenders to keep up with in open space. He is very young yet has already played thirty-two games for his country and scored nine goals. Look for link-up play between him and Bryan Ruiz against England.

5. Ross Barkley: England

Though he isn’t even a year from scoring his first goal for Everton FC in England, there is a buzz around this 20-year-old. He is a very creative midfield playmaker, which is very different from the majority of English “tough guy” midfielders. He is a smooth dribbler and is not afraid to take players on and beat them with his skill on the ball. He recently scored a goal for Everton where he dribbled 60 yards, made space for his own shot, and scored. There is not another England midfielder who has the bravery and skill to do that.

Expect Barkley to possibly come off the bench to instantly boost the English attack, especially against a defensively tough Costa Rica. The big question is does manager Roy Hodgson want an inexperienced 20-year-old to spearhead the attack?

6. Vedad Ibisevic: Bosnia and Herzegovina

The best and most well-known forward from this country currently playing is Edin Dzeko, but Vedad Ibisevic is just as lethal in front of goal. He currently plies his goal-scoring trade for VFB Stuttgart in the German Bundesliga. Most defenses pay attention to Dzeko and make him their main priority for marking, but there is almost zero drop-off in skill for Ibisevic. He is an old school “poacher”-type of forward who lurks in the penalty area and pounces on passes and loose balls and makes the opposition pay.

Expect him to score some goals against the less than stellar defenses of Iran and Nigeria. Also, don’t be surprised if Bosnia and Herzegovina pull off a win against Argentina with Ibisevic scoring the deciding goal.

7. Ricardo Rodriguez: Switzerland

The Swiss are a true team, meaning it doesn’t have big-time stars yet it was a top seed for the World Cup draw. Wolfsburg defender, the 21-year-old Ricardo Rodriguez, will be very important to the Swiss attack this summer with his forward runs from the left side of the defense.

Rodriguez loves to get forward and put crosses into the box. The crosses of Rodriguez are accurate and find a teammate the majority of the time, which could mean trouble for Honduras and Ecuador. I expect the Switzerland coach to tell teammates to get Rodriguez touches out wide so he can get forward. Look for the left side of this Swiss team to give the other teams in Group E fits.

8. Romelu Lukaku: Belgium

He is probably the most well-known player on this list. We have not seen the Belgian national team in a major tournament in a generation (its last tournament was World Cup 2002). It is currently in a “golden generation” of talent, and Romelu Lukaku is a big reason this squad received such a label. He is under contract with English powerhouse Chelsea, which put him out on loan for each of the last two seasons. In 2012-2013 he played for West Brom and in this current 2013-2014 season he plays for Everton. He was West Brom’s leading goal-scorer last season and has the same honor for Everton this season. His contributions to West Brom were important as they finished eighth place in the Premier League, while the same team currently sit in sixteenth place without him. All of the forward play for Belgium will run through him. Expect him to start every game for Belgium due to the recent Achilles injury of another very good forward, Christian Benteke .

9. Konstantinos Mitroglou: Greece

Greece is known for defensive rigidness and discipline. Most would interpret that as boring and they wouldn’t be wrong. However, that was the Greek recipe for winning Euro 2004 at odds of 100 to 1. But ask anyone who watched Euro 2004, and they will tell you that it was a fairly boring tournament. The only knock on Greece is they don’t score a lot of goals. It is generally a rule of thumb that if Greece doesn’t win 1-0, they don’t win at all. Konstantinos Mitroglou is looking to change that.

2013 was a breakout year for the Fulham striker. He scored six of his eight career goals for Greece in 2013, and he was the difference in Greece’s World Cup qualifying two-game playoff with Romania, scoring twice in a 3-1 win and once in a 1-1 draw. Look for Mitroglou to liven up an average Greek attack.

10. Andre Ayew: Ghana

Ghana’s strength is central midfield due to children in that country playing in very close spaces and learning to become comfortable in crowded parts of the field. Andre Ayew is an exception to the rule. The Marseille winger is a left-footed player who loves to get in crosses from wide spaces and use his athleticism to leave opponents in his dust. He was on Ghana’s 2010 squad and was even named Man of the Match in its win against the USA, but most agree Asamoah Gyan should have received that distinction. He was pretty good in 2010, but his game has grown leaps and bounds over the last four years.

Andre Ayew has gone from a good player to a world beater and can use the World Cup to show the world his game has gone from good to great and put his name among the elite wingers of the world, such as Arjen Robben and Gareth Bale.

SEE ALSO: Here Is The Actual Group Of Death At The World Cup

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São Paulo's Itaquerão stadium will host the opening game of the 2014 World Cup on Thursday despite not being fully completed.

The stadium looks ready to go on the surface. The temporary bleachers jutting out from either end of the venue have finally been approved by the fire department, and scaffolding along the stands has been covered by a tarp. Both Brazil and Croatia trained at the venue without incident on Wednesday.

For weeks organizers have expressed confidence that everything would go smoothly.

But work around the stadium is ongoing, and some major parts of the arena won't be finished until after the tournament.

Associated Press reporter John Leiceister explored the bowels of the venue this week — without getting confronted by security, by the way — and found that just below the surface the stadium is far from finished:

"Exposed wires and unfitted lights hung from ceilings. Corridors and other areas smelling strongly of plaster, paint and glue were clogged with uninstalled furniture and fittings, piled up crates of catering equipment and construction materials waiting to be carted away.

"Inside the arena, one corridor behind an open door marked 'Medical Room' in fact led to a completely empty room. Electrical wires poked out from walls and ceilings. Safety barriers to prevent people from tumbling onto seated spectators waited under plastic to be fitted."

Construction, which was supposed to be completed in December 2013, was delayed multiple times after three workers died on the project.

At the stadium's final test event, on June 1, one of the sections of temporary bleachers had yet to be approved for use, and only 37,000 tickets could be sold for the 61,000-seat arena. It will go into the World Cup without holding a single full-capacity event:

Outside the arena work continued on Wednesday. A walkway still looked to be under construction with 24 hours to go:

The roof of the stadium won't be fully finished until after the World Cup. As a result, fans in the temporary bleachers and parts of the lower bowl won't be protected from rainstorms, like the one that hit the city on Tuesday.

Brazil spent $3.6 billion on building and renovating 12 venues for the World Cup. The Itaquerão is one that has a clear use after the tournament, when popular club team Corinthians will take over. But if all does not go according to plan for the opening game of the World Cup, it could be a stain on the entire tournament.

SEE ALSO: What Brazil's 12 Brand-New World Cup Stadiums Looks Like

NOW WATCH: 13 Surprising Facts About Brazil

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Five thousand homeless Brazilians are living in a camp near São Paulo's World Cup stadium after rent increases forced them out of their neighborhoods.

Residents of the camp told the Associated Press in May that the World Cup is responsible for the increases.

One person whose rent doubled when the Itaquerão stadium was built told the AP:

"We are not against the World Cup. We are against how they are trying to belittle us. They are giving priority to soccer and forgetting about the families, about the Brazilian people."

"We just don't have that kind of money. We wouldn't have clothes. We wouldn't have food."

 The camp is a collection of makeshift tarps and tents:

In a number of major cities the Brazilian government has instituted favela "pacification" plans to combat crime. Critics say those efforts have also adversely affected Brazil's poorest citizens.

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In almost every analysis, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, and Spain are the four favorites to win the 2014 World Cup.

The bookmakers have those four as the clear favorites. Here are the betting odds for the top-10 teams:

• Brazil, 11-to-4
• Argentina, 4-to-1
• Germany, 6-to-1
• Spain, 6-to-1
• Belgium, 20-to-1
• Portugal, 22-to-1
• France, 22-1
• Italy, 25-to-1
• England, 25-to-1
• Netherlands, 28-to-1

The advanced stats from ESPN's Nate Silver gives Brazil a 45% chance to win, Argentina 13%, Germany 11%, and Spain 8%. No other team has more than a 4% chance to win.

No European team has ever won a World Cup on South American or North American soil in the six tournaments that have been played on the two continents.

That's why Brazil and Argentina are the favorites.

Brazil failed to reach the semifinals of the World Cup in both 2006 and 2010. They have a strong squad this year though. Nate Silver's SPI index has them as the best team in the world. They're overflowing with young midfield talent — guys like Oscar, Fernandinho, Lucas, Willian, and Paulinho — and have one of the best central defenders in the world in PSG's Thiago Silva. 

It's mildly surprising that Spain has longer odds than Germany and Argentina. Spain has been the most dominant team in the world in the last half-decade, winning the 2008 Euros, 2010 World Cup, and 2012 Euros in succession.

But they struggled a bit through 2014 World Cup qualifying. In addition, their brand of "tika-taka football" that decimated opponents a few years ago has fallen out of fashion, with Barcelona struggling to its worst season in a long time.

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When soccer’s world governing body FIFA announced in August 2000 that future World Cup hosting duties would be rotated by continent, the decision seemed like a victory for countries outside the game’s traditional elites.

Earlier that summer, favorites South Africa had controversially lost the hosting rights for the 2006 World Cup to Germany.

At the time, no African nation had hosted the tournament, and no nation outside of Europe and North America had done so for more than two decades. Asia was only about to receive its first opportunity, with the 2002 World Cup slated to take place in Japan and South Korea, but the Germany decision suggested Europe’s stranglehold was still firmly in place—and in need of addressing.

South Africa became the first beneficiary of rotation, winning the rights to the 2010 World Cup, and hosting an event that was widely lauded—infrastructure projects were completed on time, the tournament attracted more than 300,000 tourists, and the wave of crime predicted by naysayers never materialized. In awarding the tournament to a developing country, FIFA, so frequently criticized for its own excesses, seemed to have turned a new leaf.

In fact, South Africa seemed to have benefited from hosting the World Cup by all but one vector of success: the accounting sheet. After $5 billion in outlays – equivalent to half of South Africa’s annual healthcare budget – the tournament generated revenues of just $500 million. A brief spike in employment in the country’s construction sector subsided when major infrastructure projects were completed. South Africa’s economic bounce, widely foretold by consultants and lobbyists prior to the tournament, was more of a splat.

More: Do you think inequality is bad in the U.S? See what it’s like in European sports.

Worse still, the country’s financial losses actually continued over time. Take the long-running infrastructure costs associated with Cape Town Stadium, the 55,000 capacity arena built from scratch, at a cost of about $600 million, to host the city’s allotment of World Cup matches.

In the four years following the stadium’s completion, maintenance costs outstripped revenues by a factor of 4:1, with net losses over that period amounting to about $40 million. While one of the city’s soccer teams has subsequently moved into the venue, it’s hardly affecting the stadium’s balance sheet: supporters rarely fill the first tier of seats, and ticket prices start at just $4. Some locals have even suggested that the stadium should be demolished, so that maintenance funds can be put to better use.

Why did Cape Town get stuck with a costly, unsustainable stadium? The problem, it turns out, wasn’t lack of foresight from local officials.

In fact, two other existing stadiums were proposed to host Cape Town’s games: one in an economically depressed region of the Cape Flats called Athlone, another in the wealthier suburb of Newlands. Renovations at either venue might have been more sustainable for local taxpayers: Athlone is already a regional soccer hub, while Newlands regularly hosts sold-out rugby matches. And Athlone would have benefited particularly from the injection of tourist euros and dollars that comes with hosting World Cup soccer matches.

Instead, FIFA president Sepp Blatter insisted that Cape Town’s stadium be built on the city’s picture postcard Atlantic seaboard. The decision, by all accounts, was motivated purely by aesthetics, but for reasons never made clear, President Thabo Mbeki and his cabinet took sides with Blatter. Members of Mbeki’s ANC party at the provincial and local level were ordered to ditch Athlone and Newlands, and when the ANC lost its mayoral seat in 2006, the city’s new mayor was told that Cape Town would lose its status as a host city if it attempted to revisit the issue.

Cape Town’s experiences seem symptomatic of the bigger problem: once a country like South Africa has secured the World Cup, FIFA can bully and maneuver its way around local economic considerations. FIFA’s bottom line comes first. Even as South Africa was hemorrhaging money over the 2010 tournament, FIFA was earning billions in television rights, sponsorship, and marketing sales.

Now it’s Brazil turn. The country has spent upwards of $12 billion – three times more than South Africa – on a four-week tournament that is set to bring in FIFA’s largest ever cash windfall. The scale of spending has even prompted widespread protests.

Meanwhile, under pressure from Europe and North America, FIFA has subsequently abandoned its World Cup rotation policy. It may be the best thing that it’s ever done for the developing world.

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Dual nationals — players eligible to play for two or more national teams — have been one of the big stories going into the 2014 World Cup.

The U.S. has five players who were born in Germany. The best Brazilian-born striker in the world plays for Spain. Belgium's 19-year-old phenom could have played for Albania, Turkey, or Serbia.

One of those dual nationals is Eduardo, a 31-year-old Croatian striker who was born in Brazil. 

He moved to Croatia at the age of 15 to play professionally and became a naturalized citizen a few years later. He told FIFA that he doesn't identify with one country more than the other, saying, "My blood is Brazilian but my heart is Croatian."

Whenever a dual national picks which team he'll play for, there's a lot of criticism about which nationality he really is. But, as with the case with Eduardo, these players are almost always a complicated mix of both cultures.

In that vein, he got his two adorable kids some custom half-and-half shirts for the Brazil-Croatia game that will open the World Cup.

Says it all:

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While calling the world's most popular sport "soccer" is typically depicted as a symbol of American ignorance, the reason we don't call it "football" like the rest of the world is actually Britain's fault.

The word "soccer" is a British invention that British people only stopped using about 30 years ago, according to a new paper by University of Michigan professor Stefan Szymanski.

The word "soccer" comes from the use of the term "association football" in Britain, and it goes back 200 years.

In the early-1800s a bunch of British universities took "football"— a medieval game — and started playing their own versions of it, all under different rules. To standardized things across the country, these games were categorized under different organizations with different names.

One variant of the game you played with your hands became "rugby football." Another variant came to be known as "association football" after the Football Association formed to promote the game in 1863, 15 years after the rules were made at Cambridge.

"Rugby football" became "ruggle" for short. "Association football" became "soccer."

After these two sports spread across the Atlantic, Americans invented their own variant of the game that they simply called "football" in the early 1900s.

"Association football" became "soccer" in America, and what was called "gridiron" in Britain became simply "football" in America.

The interesting thing here is that Brits still used "soccer" regularly for a huge chunk of the 20th century. Between 1960 and 1980, "soccer" and "football" were "almost interchangeable" in Britain, Szymanski found.

Then everything changed (via Szymanski):

"Since 1980 the usage of the word 'soccer' has declined in British publications, and where it is used, it usually refers to an American context. This decline seems to be a reaction against the increased usage in the US which seems to be associated with the highpoint of the NASL around 1980."

British people stopped saying "soccer" because of its American connotations.

So no, it's not wrong to call it "soccer" if you're American.

SEE ALSO: What Brazil's Brand-New, $3.6-Billion World Cup Stadiums Looks Like

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Brazil overcame the worst start possible and beat Croatia 3-1 in a wild, controversy-filled opening game to the World Cup.

Brazil, the favorite to win the entire tournament, did not play as well as the 3-1 scoreline indicates. If it wasn't for a bad penalty call in the second half, this could have been a disastrous result for them.

Croatia opening the scoring in the 11th minute on an own goal by Marcelo:

A Neymar goal in the 30th minute was perfectly placed, and made it 1-1 going into halftime:

Brazil was sluggish in the 2nd half. The pace slowed down considerably, and they seemed to lack ideas going forward. But then in the 68th minute Fred dove in the box, and the referee called a penalty. Clear flop:

Neymar converted the penalty, but only by a hair. It made it 2-1 Brazil, and forced Croatia to commit men forward:

In the 90th minute, Oscar got out on the counterattack and scored a toe-poke goal. Poor keeping, but still a nice finish:

Brazil will take the three points, but as fun a game as it was for us to watch, this wasn't a good performance for the hosts. 

Check out our full liveblog below for bonus screenshots and GIFs.

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If there’s one thing that can unite the human race on the global level, it’s the chance to rub your athletic superiority in another nation’s face. The 2014 FIFA World Cup is upon us, and beyond the eye-catching beauty of its host country, Brazil, it’s sure to impress given the many technological wonders associated with it.

In honor of today's opening match between Brazil and Croatia, allow us to provide you with the comprehensive look at the tournament’s most impressive in arts and technology.

Goal Line Tech

This much-talked about technology—sure to ease many headaches and broken hearts alike—is finally here. Goal line technology (pictured left) has been said to be arriving for years now and it’s no longer just the banter of athletic lore.

German firm GoalControl has outfitted the World Cup stadiums with sets of 14 cameras that will track ball play within millimeters. Whenever the ball happens to pass the goal line, an encrypted radio signal is delivered to a referee’s watch signaling the goal—all in less than a second’s time. Talk about la mano de Dios!

A Mind-Controlled Exo-Miracle

Who needs Hodor when you have an exoskeleton powered by your own neurons? Thanks to an international collaboration of over 156 scientists, a young paraplegic adult will open the game’s ceremonies by walking again in a robotic suit that comes outfitted with its own 3D-printed headpiece.

Hollywood-level Video Quality

It’s fitting that the World Cup will take place within the timeframe of Blockbuster Season, given that both will be filmed using Sony’s F65 powerhouse camera. The camera, already used to capture films like Oblivion and After Earth, shoots in RAW 8K, and will allow event organizers to shoot the cup’s final three matches in mouthwatering 4K resolution.

Next-Gen Turnstiles

This year, FIFA has spared no expense— even each set of stadium turnstiles is state-of-the-art. Hardwired with high-def cameras used to validate tickets on the fly, automatic bar lowering in case of emergency, and other neat perks, these turnstiles will ensure FIFA can welcome its thousands of guests at maximum speed and efficiency.

Remote-Controlled ‘Security Guards’

Usually only encountered on the battlefield (or maybe Silicon Valley), iRobot 510 PackBots will make an appearance at the World Cup to deal with suspicious packages and to serve as an added level of surveillance. Your move, creeps.

Info-Packed Cards

Always looking for an advantage, teams like Italy’s national squad is providing its players with ATM-style cards that, when accessed, provide players with tournament and training schedules, scouting videos, coach speeches, and more.

Pre-Cooling Vests And Sleeves To Beat Brazil Heat

In a place known for its deadly temperatures and excessive humidity, World Cup players will need all the help they can get to remain calm, cool, and collected. To help out, Adidas rolled out the adiPower pre-cooling supplies to ensure players start games at optimal capacity. The only drawback is that the technology is only available to nine tournament teams— we have a feeling they're the few with Adidas sponsorship.

Vanishing Spray Markers

No longer will referees have to point at nowhere in particular when marking spots for free kicks. Now they’ll be able to draw a circle on the turf with a foaming emulsifier that disappears within minutes of use.

SEE ALSO: The Egregious Flop That Gave Brazil The Lead In Opening World Cup Match

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The World Cup is scheduled to kick off at 4 p.m. Eastern time, and if you’re into sports but not necessarily a soccer fan, you’re probably kind of terrified. After all, there’s nothing worse than admitting that you don’t know something, and if you’re not into the sport, soccer is firmly off your radar until the World Cup, which comes around on the same schedule as the Olympics, but doesn’t afford nearly the same amount of novice leeway into the event. Because, while no one really minds if you don’t understand curling when you watch the Winter Games, everyone is going to care if you don’t know soccer during the World Cup. At least, it can definitely feels that way.

Remember, nothing about soccer is inherently more complicated than anything you find in American football or basketball — it’s the lack of familiarity that presents the biggest hurdle. To put it in American football terms, you don’t have to know the difference between a 4-3 and a 3-4 defense, you just have to know the difference between the quarterback, the wide receiver, and the defender. Easy, right? Exactly. So let’s break down some broad strokes — which teams are expected to do well, which teams aren’t, how to figure out what’s going on on the field, so on and so forth.

The teams

If you’re not particularly sold on nationalism, and want to root for one of the likely favorites, you can check out this list and pick whichever team draws your fancy, or go with Brazil. If you’ve got to know one thing about the teams going into this tournament, it’s that Brazil is to soccer what New York City is to basketball or Lambeau Field is to football or what prep schools are to lacrosse: the ground zero for the sport, where the love of the game intermingles with the history of the game to create an aura that is not only fundamentally palpable but is simply other in ways that don’t occur in other areas of the sport’s known universe.

And Brazil is also important to know because they don’t lose at home. Ever. They haven’t lost an international match in their own country in over a decade. That is some massive home court advantage, and they’ll have it for the entire tournament. As you might have guessed, they’re also very, very good at soccer. You’re going to want to know Neymar, if you go all in Brazil. This is Neymar.

If an underdog squad is more to your liking, you can check out these three teams, each of which put their own spin on the idea of a lost cause — or, thirdly, you could go through the Groups (since the first round of the World Cup is a round robin) and just pick one team from each squad or every other squad. Or you could just pick your home country or ancestral motherland, but like any other sport, it’s more fun if you’re rooting for more than one team in an elimination tournament.

Watching the games

Now, with our teams safely chosen (three is a good number, one random, Brazil, and the U.S. so you can shake your head wistfully about the absence of Landon Donovan, who’s going to be an ESPN analyst), it’s time to actually watch the games. They’re split between ABC and the various ESPN networks, with free streaming offered online provided you’re already paying for television. That’s where you’ll find them. But then, when you turn it on, the games look like a bunch of guys running up and down the field. Is there really more to it than “kick the ball, run after the ball, then kick the ball at the goal?”

Fundamentally, no. But in practice, of course. The easiest way to pick up on the strategy behind soccer is to focus less on the ball, and more on the positions of the players that you can see on the screen, called the formation in the parlance of the sport. Below we’ve posted one of the qualifier games for the World Cup, between the U.S. and Panama, as a quick primer for what the game is going to look like — watch the way the Panamanians and the American players move on a string, like a soccer playing amoeba, around the ball. Knowing the difference between a 4-2-1-1 and a 4-3-2-1 (those are a pair of formations) isn’t nearly as valuable for the inexperienced viewer as recognizing that soccer is essentially played in a hybrid zone on both offense and defense.

And what about the scoring? Isn’t the knock on soccer that it’s long, and boring, because possessions so frequently end without any reasonable resolution, i.e. points on the board or turnovers? That’s one way of looking at it, sure, but if we’re trying to ingratiate ourselves into watching soccer, it’s much more impressive when you consider the sheer skill involved in dribbling a soccer ball. Controlling things with your feet is hard work, and watching these guys haul up and down the pitch, with only one real break in the ninety-plus minutes of action, while keeping possession of something with only your feet while everyone else is trying to take it away is a much more fulfilling way of watching the games, instead of looking at the scoreboard. The big takeaway: Scoring in soccer is a culmination and a reward of many things breaking the right way, rather than an expected byproduct of the rules of the game.

 Talking about the game

Lastly, we’ve got to make sure no one comes across looking like they don’t know what they’re talking about, even if they have no idea what they’re talking about. So, here’s a pair of key takeaways when you’re talking about soccer to other people, especially if you’re talking to the kind of people that call it football.

1. The positions are not all that important

Consider this the Jimmy Graham effect. Imagine the way that way Graham and his ilk (recently retired Tony Gonzalez, the almost always injured Rob Gronkowski) don’t play the tight end the way the majority of their peers do. Now consider that soccer is a game that’s filled up almost entirely with players that shift responsibilities according to their coaches’ whims. Some teams have fullbacks, who have been nominally defensive players throughout large swaths of soccer history, play very aggressively. Some teams have one player as their designated strikers (the players who are closest to the other team’s goal, and subsequently shoot the most), some teams have three. A player’s position is not nearly as important as his function — if a guy is hanging back, he’s playing more conservatively. If the team seems to have a large concentration of guys in in the front of the field, they’re playing more aggressively. Apply this logic as needed.

2. Your team is always right

Remember, even though this is soccer, this is still sports, and you’re still a fan. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been a fan for five decades or five minutes, you know how being a fan is supposed to work. While you’re stepping back from the action and taking in how your team is moving around the field and how aggressively they’re playing, don’t forget that you’re expected to cheer for them when they do good things and express dismay when they do not. The difference between the two is self-evident, even in soccer, once you start watching. Good luck, and enjoy the games.

SEE ALSO: The Egregious Flop That Gave Brazil The Lead In Opening World Cup Match

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The dead, patchy field at the Arena Amazonia in Manaus will not recover before Saturday's England-Italy World Cup group stage game, officials say.

Jose Melo, the governor of Amazonas, gave a press conference on Thursday and said that a jungle fungus has infected the field.

"I was informed that this is a kind of fungus that lives in an extremely humid area and it is absolutely natural," he told reporters. Manaus is a remote Amazon outpost in the middle of the rainforest. Melo added that the fungus wouldn't affect the game.

Earlier in the week the head groundsman at the stadium said the field was in "bad shape" and it wouldn't be repaired before the first game. 

FIFA has been in charge of the stadium for the last month, according to O Globo. With no way to grow a lush field in 24 hours, the plan is to spray paint it green to make it look more presentable. There are brown streak and patches, particularly around the end lines.

Reporters at the Arena Amazonia on Thursday witnessed the painting going on, and photos of a worker spraying a mysterious green substance in the 18-yard box surfaced on Getty:

Another look:

Close up of Amazonia pitch #eng#itapic.twitter.com/SISeCyW6BN

— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) June 12, 2014

Fields are painted green more than you'd think, especially in the United States. The U.S. team frequently has trouble growing temporary grass fields to put on top of artificial turf. The field for the U.S.-Honduras game last year was probably worse than Manaus.

The teams have downplayed the importance of the poor field conditions. We won't know how it affects the game until Saturday night.

SEE ALSO: 23 Photos Of Manaus, The World Cup's Most Controversial Host City

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Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez, Mexico's most recognizable player, will not start Friday's opening World Cup game against Cameroon.

In an unusual move, Mexico announced its lineup 24 hours before the game.

It's the low point of what has been a dismal year for the 26-year-old.

Coach Miguel Herrara told ESPN's World Cup Tonight, "Obviously he’ll come in handy when we need him. And when we use him, if he shines like he did at his first World Cup, there’s no doubt that he could be a starter for the following games."

Chicharito hit back at the coach, telling reporters in Brazil,"I’ve never seen myself as a sub and I don’t like being one, and, believe me, I am tired of a lot of people seeing me that way, as a 'super-sub.'"

Hernandez exploded onto the scene at the 2010 World Cup, scoring two goals in four games to raise expectations before his move to Manchester United. After scoring at least 10 goals in his first three years in the Premier League, he had a nightmare 2013-14 season.

David Moyes replaced Sir Alex Ferguson as coach last summer. Hernandez's playing time went down as a result. He started six games in the league, appeared as a sub 18 times, and scored a career-low four goals.

At the same time, the Mexican national went through a crisis of its own.

They had four different coaches in six weeks at one point. El Tri only qualified for the World Cup because the United States, in a meaningless game, scored a late goal on the final day of qualifying to knock out Panama. In the ensuing World Cup playoff against New Zealand, Herrara used a team full of players from Club America, the Mexican professional team he coached.

Chicharito, once the team's focal point, found himself on the outside looking in as the World Cup approached.

Mexico has a manageable path to the knockout stages, especially after Brazil beat Croatia in the opening game. But no one expects them to make any sort of substantial run, largely because guys like Chicharito and Andres Guardado aren't at the level they were at in 2011 and 2012.

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Mexico beat Cameroon 1-0 in a their first World Cup game in rain-soaked Natal.

El Tri wasn't perfect. They looked shaky at the back and a late save from goalie Memo Ochoa saved the game. But Mexico created a bunch of chances, ultimately scoring the winning goal in the 61st minute on an Oribe Peralta shot.

The game was filled with controversy.

He was clearly on:

Again, he looked onside:

Mexico finally broke through in the 61st minute, when Peralta fired a rebound into the back of the net to make it 1-0.

Massive three points for Mexico. With Croatia losing to Brazil in Group A on Thursday, El Tri is in the driver's seat to advance to the knockout stages.

Check out out full liveblog of the game below.

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It's not just morons throwing bananas on the field.

Far-right political parties are gaining ground in France and the Netherlands.

Most of Germany's soccer hooligans are now neo-Nazis. And this spring, Switzerland voted to curb immigration, defying the spirit of laws that allow citizens freedom of movement across the European Union.

But amid all the bad blood, has anyone thought about how sending immigrants packing would affect the teams playing the world's greatest game?

Broadly defining “foreigner” as anyone with at least one foreign-born parent, Switzerland would lose two-thirds of its players.

France and the Netherlands might be knocked out of contention. And Algeria, Ghana, Turkey or even Suriname could win it all.

Here's how the world's best would stack up in a World Cup with no first-generation immigrants.

(Odds come from here, and stats from here.) 

Group A: Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Cameroon 

A heavy favorite in their real-world group, Brazil retains all of its star players in the no-immigrants-allowed version. Better still, Brazil picks up a few more of its nationals from other country's teams: Shakhtar Donetsk striker Eduardo Alves da Silva and Getafe midfielder Jorge Sammir Cruz Campos from Croatia, and Real Madrid defender Kepler Laveran Lima Ferreira from Portugal.

Brazil

Croatia

A heavy favorite in their real-world group, Brazil retains all of its star players in the no-immigrants-allowed version. Better still, Brazil picks up a few more of its nationals from other country's teams: Shakhtar Donetsk striker Eduardo Alves da Silva and Getafe midfielder Jorge Sammir Cruz Campos from Croatia, and Real Madrid defender Kepler Laveran Lima Ferreira from Portugal.

Although Croatia has only a slim shot at winning the real Group A, it would gain ground if it got some of the Balkan immigrants back from other teams. In the no-immigrant tourney, it keeps Bayern Munich striker Mario Mandzukic, Hull striker Nikica Jelavic, and Queens Park Rangers midfielder Niko Kranjcar.

As noted above, it loses da Silva to Brazil. But if we're generous about allotting the players from the former Yugoslavia, Croatia could get Napoli midfielder Blerim Dzemaili (born in Macedonia) and Bayern Munich midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri (born in Kosovo) from Switzerland. (We'll send Real Sociedad striker Haris Seferovic, whose parents came from Sanski Most, and FC Zurich striker Mario Gavranovic, whose parents are from Gradacac, to Bosnia-Herzegovina).

Group B: Spain, Netherlands, Chile, Australia

Spain

 Despite its proximity to Africa and a decade-long boom that saw immigrants swell from 2 percent to 12 percent of the population in 2010, Spain retains more than a 50-50 chance of winning Group B in our immigrants-barred game.

It keeps Barcelona striker Pedro Eliezer Rodriguez Ledesma, Barcelona defender Jordi Alba Ramos, Atletico Madrid striker David Villa, Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata, Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos, and Manchester City striker Alvaro Negredo.

But it loses Manchester City striker David Silva, whose mother is from Japan and whose father is from the Canary Islands.

Netherlands

The Dutch keep Manchester United striker Martin van Persie, Hamburger SV midfielder Rafael van der Vaart, Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben, and Schalke striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. But we're taking back Dynamo Kviv striker Jeremain Lens, Swansea City goalkeeper Michel Vorm, and AC Milan midfielder Nigel de Jong — all of whom have roots in Suriname.

We'll also take Norwich City midfielder Leroy Fer, whose grandfather played for Curacao. And we'll grab Feyenoord defender Rolando Maximiliano "Bruno" Martins, born in Portugal, and Swansea City midfielder Jonathan de Guzman, whose father was born in Jamaica.

Group C: Colombia, Ivory Coast, Japan, Greece

Colombia

 Colombia remains the favorite in Group C, retaining AS Monaco striker Radamel Falcao, River Plate striker Teofilo Gutierrez, AS Monaco midfielder James Rodriguez, and Atalanta defender Mario Yepes and West Ham United defender Pablo Armero, who's of African descent but not an imigrant by our definition.

Group D: Italy, Uruguay, England, Costa Rica 

Uruguay

Facing even odds in the real cup, Uruguay remains even with Italy in the no-immigrants tourney. The South American side keeps Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, Paris Saint-Germain striker Edinson Cavani, and West Bromwich Albion defender Diego Lugano.

We'll also let them keep Diego Forlan, whose father and grandfather both played for Uruguay, though they're technically of Basque descent.

Atletico Madrid winger Cristian Rodríguez has roots in Spain, and Sao Paolo striker Alvaro Pereira and Palermo striker Abel Hernandez have roots in Africa, but none of them meet our definition of immigrants. However, they do lose Galatasaray goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, who was born in Argentina.

Italy

Co-favored to win the group in the no-limit cup, Italy loses less than you might expect in the no-immigrant version. It keeps Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini, AC Milan midfielder Riccardo Montolivo, Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi, Juventus midfielder Andrea Pirlo, and Roma striker Mattia Destro.

However, the Italians do lose a few guys. Fiorentina forward Giuseppe Rossi was born in New Jersey. And AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli, born in Palermo, has parents who immigrated from Ghana.

Group E: France, Switzerland, Ecuador, Honduras

France

The favorite in the real Group E, France can hardly field a team without its immigrants, losing a whopping 12 players from its 23-man squad. It retains a shot at getting out of the group with Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery and Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud.

It drops Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna and Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho, whose parents were born in Senegal, and Manchester United defender Patrice Evra, who was born there himself.

It also loses Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane and Queens Park Rangers striker Loic Remy, both of whom have fathers who were born in Martinique; Paris St.-Germain midfielder Blaise Matuidi, whose father was born in Angola; and Porto defender Eliaquim Mangala, whose parents were born in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

France also gives up Lille OSC midfielder Rio Mavuba, whose father was born in Zaire and mother in Angola; Newcastle United midfielder Moussa Sissoko, whose parents were born in Mali; and Marseille midfielder Matthieu Valbuena, whose father was born in Spain.

And don't look for as much flash without Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, whose father was born in Algeria. France also loses Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba, whose parents were born in Guinea. 

Switzerland

“No more immigrants” Switzerland loses about two-thirds of its players if it goes all-Swiss, all but erasing its chances of getting out of Group E. It keeps Grasshopper Club Zurich defender Michael Lang, FC Basel defender Fabian Schär, and Juventus defender Stephan Lichtsteiner. But it loses a lot more. Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta is of Italian descent and holds dual citizenship.

Napoli midfielder Gokhan Inler's parents were born in Turkey. Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Granit Xhaka, Napoli midfielder Blerim Dzemaili and Bayern Munich midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri were all born in the former Yugoslavia, while Real Sociedad striker Haris Seferovic and FC Zurich striker Mario Gavranovic are of Bosnian descent.

Ecudaor

Wee little Ecuador has a slim chance of getting out of Group E in the real cup. But its odds look much better against the almost-empty rosters of France and Switzerland in the no-immigrants version.

Monarcas Morelia winger Jefferson Antonio Montero hails from one of Ecuador's indigenous tribes. Al-Jazira striker Felipe Caicedo, Al-Hilal midfielder Segundo Castillo, Santa Fe midfielder Edison Mendez and Tijuana striker J. Ayovi don't meet our definition for immigrants, although all are of African descent. 

Group F: Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Nigeria, Iran

Argentina

A strong favorite in the real Group F, Argentina leads the group in the no-immigrant tourney, too. It keeps Barcelona striker Lionel Messi, Barcelona midfielder Javier Mascherano, Real Madrid winger Angel Di Maria and Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero.

However, Argentina loses Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain, of Basque descent, who was born in France. On the plus side, it picks up Juventus striker Pablo Osvaldo from Italy.

Group G: Germany, Portugal, USA, Ghana

Ghana

Ghana keeps Al Ain striker Asamoah Gyan, Rubin Kazan midfielder Wakaso Mubarak, Vitesse Arnhem striker Christian Twasam Atsu, AC Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari and Juventus midfielder Khadwo Asamoah, and Rennes defender John Boye, not to mention AC Milan midfielder Michael Essien. 

The team also keeps Schalke midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng and gets back Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng from Germany — their father was born in Ghana, though the brothers were born in Berlin. The same goes for Marseille striker Jordan Ayew, whose parents were born in Ghana though he was born in France. As a final bonus, Ghana picks up AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli, whose biological parents were born in Ghana, from Italy. It also gets Danny Welbeck, whose parents were born in Ghana, from England.

Germany

The Germans get our moral support in honor of their recent decision to allow dual citizenship to the children of immigrants. But their football team doesn't look too good without the guys that the red-faced chap at the end of the bar still calls “foreigners.”

Germany keeps Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker, Bayern Munich midfielder Thomas Mueller, Bayern Munich midfielder Toni Kroos, Bayern Munich midfielder Mario Goetze, and Chelsea winger Andre Schuerrle. They retain Schalke defender Benedikt Howedes, whose parents were born in Germany though the family has roots in Norway.

But they lose superstar Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil, whose father was born in Turkey; Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira, whose father was born in Tunisia; and Lazio striker Miroslav Klose, who was born in Poland.

They'll also take the field without Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng, who has roots in Ghana; Sampdori defender Shkodran Mustafi, whose parents are Albanians born in Macedonia; and Lukas Podolski, who was born in Poland. 

Portugal

Lesser-known colonizer Portugal keeps Fenerbahce S.K. Defender Bruno Alves, Real Madrid defender Fabio Coentrao, Valencia defender Ricardo Costa, Besiktas J.K. forward Hugo Almeida and Lazio striker Helder Postiga. But it loses Real Madrid defender Kepler Laveran Lima Ferreira, aka Pepe, to his native Brazil.

It also drops Luis Carlos Almeida da Cunha, aka Nani, who was born in Cape Verde, and FC Porto winger Silvestre Varela, whose parents were born there. Lucky for them, Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo, whose great grandmother was from Cape Verde, isn't an immigrant by our rules.

United States

Team USA gets to keep San Jose Earthquakes striker Chris Wondolowski — half Native American, with a grandfather from Poland — as well as Seattle Sounders midfielder Clint Dempsey and Stoke City defender Geoff Cameron.

However, the melting-pot nation loses Sunderland striker Jozy Altidore, whose parents were born in Haiti; Tim Howard, whose mother is Hungarian; AZ striker Aron Johannsson, who was born to Icelandic parents in Alabama; and Rosenborg midfielder Mix Diskerud, who was born in Norway.

We'll also take away LA Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez, whose parents were born in Mexico, and Nantes midfielder Alejandro Bedoya, whose father was born in Colombia.

Finally, we'll take back Hertha defender John Brooks, Nurnberg defender Timmy Chandler, Bayern Munich winger Julian Green, Besiktas midfielder Jermaine Jones, and 1899 Hoffenheim defender Fabian Johnson — all of whom were born in Germany or have a German parent.

Group H: Belgium, Russia, South Korea Algeria

Russia

Bookies say Russia has an outside chance of winning the real Group H. But Vladimir Putin's men become the odds-on favorite when we take away the immigrants. Among scorers, the Russians keep Zenit St.

Petersburg striker Aleksandr Kerzhakov, Dynamo Moscow striker Aleksandr Kokorin, FC Krasnodar midfielder Roman Shirokov, Zenit St. Petersburg midfielder Viktor Faizulin, Zenit St. Petersburg midfielder Igor Denisov, Spartak Moscow midfielder Dmitriy Kombarov and Spartak Moscow midfielder Denis Glushakov.

We'll also let them keep CSKA Moscow midfielder Alan Dzagoev (3 goals). Strictly speaking, Dzagoev is of Ossetian descent — his parents moved from Georgia in 1989. But we've seen Putin without his shirt, and we don't want another Crimea-type situation.

Belgium 

A strong favorite to win the real Group H, Belgium loses some stars without its immigrants. Among scorers, the Belgians keep Vfl Wolfsburg midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, Chelsea midfielder Eden Hazard, Tottenham Hotspur defender Jan Vertonghen and FC Porto midfielder Steven Defour. But they lose a lot.

The fathers of both Manchester City defender Vincent Kompany and Everton striker Romelu Lukaku were born in what is today the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Everton striker Kevin Mirallas' father was born in Spain. Marouane Fellaini's parents were born in Morocco. FC Zenit Saint Petersburgmidfielder Axel Witsel's father is from Martinique. And Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Mousa Dembele's father was born in Mali.

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