Gotta look past the group stages.

Anyone that is in Brazil's half, I believe it's Groups A to D? Has the rough section of the draw.

Put it this way, whoever comes 2nd in our group will most likely play Brazil in the round of 16. Netherlands and Spain will want 1st, nothing less to at least give themselves a shot at the semis. That's why the odds of the teams in this group winning the world cup are much lower compared to other favourites.

Imo, Costa Rica has the hardest draw. They have Italy,Uruguay and England. All world cup winners + Uruguay being the last Copa America champions. In second place : Australia. I don't think Spain,Holland or Chile are traditionally as heavy as the "ticos" opponents. I don't see CR winning any of their games but I do see our footballroos with a chance of causing a couple of upsets.

Tim Vickery ha said, and many others, a European team will not win the WC, why?

Climate, temperature (change) etc. at different venues.

How does Australia shape up with venues it plays in Brazil, considering many players have experienced some 'variance' in temperature throughout Australasia and ME?

Another way is just to look at average FIFA ranking of all three opponents. I know FIFA rankings are flawed, but it gives an indication.

Australia - opponents average 8.3 (Spain 1, Netherlands 9, Chile 15)
Ghana - 7
Costa Rica - 8.6
USA - 10.3
Japan -11

I did this straight after the draw and we had by far the hardest, but the rankings have changed since then, mainly with Chile dropping spots.

that strength of each match section is a good aid to help us people who have jobs decide which matches to not watch, I'll probably write off that whole bottom row except for aus v chile

Really good breakdown here;

http://www.theguardian.com/football/interactive/2013/dec/18/world-cup-2014-draw-strength-of-schedule

Pretty much shows how hard Australia has it lol.

-PB