--- description: What do true soccer fans love more than a world champion? Maybe an underdog with an outside chance of surprising us all. title: Forget the World Cup Favorites. What About the Underdogs image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [2014 World Cup](/tag/2014-world-cup/) ## 2014 World Cup Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # World Cup 2014: Hello Long Shots! by [Randy Stearns](/author/randy-w-stearns/) ## Randy Stearns Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 12, 2014 6:16 PM CUT by [Randy Stearns](/author/randy-w-stearns/) ## Randy Stearns Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 12, 2014 6:16 PM CUT The teams, the fans and the press are descending on Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and almost everyone is aware that host country Brazil is a big favorite, as are Spain, Portugal and Germany. [Even a turtle can tell you that](http://time.com/2855739/cabecao-turtle-brazil-world-cup-big-head-prediction-croatia/ "undefined"). But even with 32 teams contending for the big prize, anything can happen, right? And the one thing a [true fan](http://time.com/2852118/world-cup-2014-tattoos/ "undefined") loves more than a guaranteed champion is an underdog. So take a closer look at some of this Cup’s “least likely to succeed,” because if fate smiles on one of them, World Cup history could be made. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2860123/world-cup-2014-hello-long-shots/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2860123/world-cup-2014-hello-long-shots/"},"headline":"World Cup 2014: Hello Long Shots!","datePublished":"2014-06-12T18:16:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:21:40.340Z","description":"Hey, not everyone can be a winner","url":"https://time.com/2860123/world-cup-2014-hello-long-shots/","keywords":["2014 World Cup","Australia","Iran","brazil","Soccer","USA","Ghana","FIFA","Costa Rica"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Randy Stearns","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/randy-w-stearns/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2014-world-cup/","name":"2014 World Cup"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2860123/world-cup-2014-hello-long-shots/","name":"World Cup 2014: Hello Long Shots!"}}]}] ```