With the 2014 FIFA World Cup kicking off Thursday in Brazil, TSN. Authentic NHL Jerseys .cas panel of experts is here to provide you with sage advice, or at least best guesses. We asked TSNs team of soccer analysts to provide their picks for the group stage. Read on to find out who is in contention and who might be looking at an early exit. The panel consists of TSN Soccer Analysts Jason deVos, Luke Wileman and Kristian Jack, TSN Radio 1050 Toronto host Gareth Wheeler, TSN Radio 690 Montreals Noel Butler and TSN.ca soccer editors Shane McNeil and Ken Rodney. Group A: 1. Brazil, 2. Croatia 3. Cameroon, 4. Mexico. No one seems to have much doubt that the hosts are advancing to the second round and they have been chosen unanimously as group winners by TSNs experts. While Neymars training scare did sound a few alarms, it was pretty clear that Brazil was the team to back in Group A, and for several of our analysts, the team to take it all. Second place is a bit more of a toss-up with three perennially competitive teams rounding out the group, but Croatia got solid backing from more than half the TSN team. The likes of Mario Mandzukic and Luka Modric make them an offensive force and will likely provide the offence they need to make the Round of 16. Mexico has advanced to the Round of 16 in each of the last five World Cups, but their appalling qualifying performance has them on the outside looking in. The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon have only once advanced out of the group stage but still got some second-place consideration. Picks - deVos: Brazil, Croatia. Jack: Brazil, Mexico. Wileman: Brazil, Cameroon. Wheeler: Brazil, Croatia. Butler: Brazil, Croatia. McNeil: Brazil, Croatia. Rodney: Brazil, Croatia. Group B: 1. Spain, 2. Netherlands, 3. Chile, 4. Australia. One of the more stacked groups in the competition, Group B was a divisive force amongst the TSN soccer team with the two reigning finalists pulling first- and second-place votes away from one another. The Champs, though, did prevail, and Spain is the consensus pick to top the group. Theyve won three straight tournaments dating back to Euro 2008 and theres not much to suggest they arent going to be competitive in Brazil. Dont underestimate the importance of group play here, because whoever finishes second will in all likelihood draw Brazil in the Round of 16. While Chile was picked as a second-place finisher on more than one ballot (and first by Kristian Jack!), the Netherlands took the second spot in the group. And why not? With the likes of Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben, the Dutch are wired to score in droves. The Australians will have to settle for a participation ribbon in this competition. Picks - deVos: Spain, Chile. Jack: Chile, Netherlands. Wileman: Spain, Netherlands . Wheeler: Spain, Netherlands. Butler: Spain, Chile. McNeil: Netherlands, Spain. Rodney: Spain, Netherlands. Group C: 1. Ivory Coast, 2. Colombia, 3. Japan, 4. Greece. This is another balanced group that prompted a wide variety of scenarios from our analysts. In the end, though, two teams emerged well ahead as the cream of the group. Unfortunately, those two teams wound up in a dead heat in terms of votes received. Were giving Ivory Coast the nod by virtue of having more first-place votes, so watch out for Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure and the rest of the Elephants to step up amid fierce competition. Colombia was the easy choice for second place and may well have been the favourite here if Radamel Falcao were fit enough to play. We still like their chances to advance and make a serious run at topping the group. Japans Samurai seem to succeed at the World Cup every other tournament (they made the Round of 16 in South Africa), but they are up against some serious competition in this group that doesnt really have a minnow. Greece is a team that can usually lull its way into the playoffs with staunch defence, but they were unable to convince our analysts that they will silence Colombia or the Ivorians. Picks - deVos: Colombia, Ivory Coast. Jack: Colombia, Japan. Wileman: Colombia, Ivory Coast. Wheeler: Ivory Coast, Colombia. Butler: Ivory Coast, Colombia. McNeil: Ivory Coast, Greece. Rodney: Ivory Coast, Colombia. Group D: 1. Uruguay, 2. Italy, 3. England, 4. Costa Rica. Yes, we know, you probably disagree. As you can see below, the vote was razor thin with little wiggle room between the reigning the perennial picks from England and Italy and the reigning bronze medalists from Uruguay. Heres the logic: Luis Suarez is not 100 per cent, but he is still probably the breakout player of the group. The Uruguayans will be buoyed by the fact that they won the World Cup last time it was held in Brazil and were the top-ranked team in the group at the time of the draw. They received the most first-place votes of any team in the group from our panel. The margin between England and Italy is harder to discern. All our analysts conceded that both have the talent to go through but both are facing obstacles. England has the tougher games to start their group play, while Italys travel schedule works against them. Theres no easy way to pick this group, since its one of several Groups of Death in this competition. If you dont like our picks, change them. The vote was so split in this group that its hard to call this a true consensus choice. Picks - deVos: Italy, Uruguay. Jack: Uruguay, Italy. Wileman: Italy, England. Wheeler: England, Italy. Butler: England, Italy. McNeil: Uruguay, England. Rodney: Uruguay, Italy. Group E: 1. France, 2. Ecuador, 3. Switzerland, 4. Honduras. In the second unanimous decision, France emerged as the clear favourite from Group E. Theyve alternated between sublime and ugly at each World Cup since hosting in 1998. The 2010 effort in South Africa could not have been uglier, so that leaves nothing but room for improvement. Losing Franck Ribery stings, but Les Bleus have the depth to at least top this quartet. The race for second was tight. Ecuadors Antonio Valencia showed hes in full compete mode by getting a red in a recent friendly against England, so if he comes out and plays at the top of his game, it should propel yet another South American team into the playoffs. The Swiss were one of the surprise teams in the top seeding pot for the 2014 draw and as such should also be considered a serious threat to advance. No one seems to be a believer in Honduras. Picks - deVos: France, Ecuador. Jack: France, Switzerland. Wileman: France, Ecuador. Wheeler: France, Switzerland. Butler: France, Switzerland. McNeil: France, Ecuador. Rodney: France, Ecuador. Group F: 1. Argentina, 2. Nigeria, 3. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 4. Iran. To the surprise of few, were picking Lionel Messi, Kun Aguero and the rest of Argentinas potent attack to easily run this group and – like their rivals from Brazil – theyre a popular pick to take the entire tournament. Nigerias Super Eagles are our pick to take second in the group behind some English Premier League talent in their midfield in the forms of John Obi Mikel and Victor Moses. Some of our resident internet nerds from TSN.ca really like Bosnia and Herzegovinas chances and the team did score a heap of goals in qualifying, but Edin Dzeko and co. came up short in the vote and may have to settle for thrilling their fans simply by making their first-ever appearance. Iran has won just one game in three previous trips to the World Cup. Picks - deVos: Argentina, Bosnia/Herzegovina. Jack: Argentina, Nigeria. Wileman: Argentina, Nigeria. Wheeler: Argentina, Nigeria. Butler: Argentina, Nigeria. McNeil: Argentina, Bosnia/Herzegovina. Rodney: Argentina, Bosnia/Herzegovina. Group G: 1. Germany, 2. Portugal, 3. USA, 4. Ghana. The deepest of the groups from top to bottom, the only thing everyone could agree on was that the Germans are going through. They dont tend to leave the group stage to chance and have finished in the top eight at every World Cup since being banned from the 1950 World Cup (also in Brazil). They will get through and in all likelihood as group-winners. Portugal gets the second-place vote here but it wasnt a unanimous decision. Cristiano Ronaldo will carry the Portuguese, the only question is: how far? He out-willed Zlatan Ibrahimovic to get his team here. Does he have it in him to carry the team deep? The U.S. got some love as potential spoilers, so keep an eye on them. They surprised a lot of people in South Africa and Jurgen Klinsmann has been busy sowing the seeds of doubt around his team before the tournament. Is he just trying to get other teams to let their guards down? Ghana is a strong team and would be a threat to advance in most other groups... just not this one. Picks - deVos: Germany, Portugal. Jack: Portugal, Germany. Wileman: Germany, Portugal. Wheeler: Germany, USA. Butler: Portugal, Germany. McNeil: Germany, USA. Rodney: Germany, Portugal. Group H: 1. Belgium, 2. Russia, 3. Korea Republic, 4. Algeria. A chic underdog pick in this competition, Belgium is the team to beat in Group H according to everyone here at TSN. They boast a superb balance of attack and defend with some reliable and smart talent all through their line-up. How frightening is it that if teams are able to neutralize Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku that they might still see Adnan Januzaj coming off the bench? Russia are back at the World Cup for the first time in over a decade and we like their odds to get out of the group due to their ability to score in droves. Theyve struggled in big tournaments since the fall of the Soviet Union, but they did manage to finish third at Euro 2008. Korea Republic have already continued their streak of eight straight trips to the World Cup, but we believe thats where the dream ends. As for Algeria, English and American fans will be able to tell you that they are capable of causing trouble. We just dont see them as a threat to advance. Picks - deVos: Belgium, Russia. Jack: Belgium, Russia. Wileman: Belgium, Russia. Wheeler: Belgium, Korea. Butler: Belgium, Russia. McNeil: Belgium, Russia. Rodney: Belgium, Russia. NHL Jerseys . The rookie is rewarding their faith with a stellar first season. MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, Jamie McGinn had two goals and an assist, and Colorado beat the Buffalo Sabres 7-1 on Saturday. NHL Jerseys China . Coming off a 6-0 drubbing at Chelsea on Saturday, Arsenal endured another demoralizing result after rallying for a 2-1 lead -- only to concede a fluke equalizer. https://www.cheapnhljerseysjustwholesale.com/ . “Im not sure well get Melky Cabrera at all,” said Gibbons. The 29-year-old left fielder struggled all season with knee and hamstring problems. Cabrera was first on the disabled list from June 27-July 20 with tendinitis in his left knee.EDMONTON - A trip to Edmonton usually seems to be able to break the Minnesota Wild out of a funk.Charlie Coyles goal late in the third period stood up as the winner as the Wild snapped a two-game losing skid with a 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, their ninth win in their last 10 visits to Edmonton.Nino Niederreiter also scored for the Wild (21-20-6), who have only three wins to show from their last 11 games.Its good to get the two points and definitely some opportunities to learn a few lessons in that game. But overall, we did a lot of good things too, said Wild head coach Mike Yeo. Charlies goal couldnt have come at a better time. We had started to lose momentum because of the turnovers that we had and so when you get an opportunity like that and you get to capitalize on it, thats obviously huge.Wild assistant captain Zach Parise was relieved his team was able to hang on, as they didnt seem to have much jump on their return from the NHL all-star break.It was a pretty boring game, there is not much going either way, just a lot of chipping pucks, throwing it off the glass, not much in the way of sustained pressure either way, he said. Fortunately we were able to win, but there was not much going on.That first game coming back is always a tough one.Boyd Gordon responded for the Oilers (12-27-9), who saw a rare two-game winning streak come to an end. Edmonton dropped to 3-20-8 this season against fellow Western Conference opponents.It was one of those games that we could have seen ourselves winning, but we had too many turnovers, Gordon said. We didnt get a lot of pucks at the net either, especially for the first couple of periods. It wasnt good enough to win tonight.It was one of those games that we kind of let slip away.Oilers interim head coach Todd Nelson agreed that his team was its own worst enemy at times.There were too many turnovers tonight, Nelson said. Two of them were costly. We could have managed the puck a lot better. I thought we fought the puck a bit tonight, especially early on. We had a number of chances in the third period, but we just didnt capitalize.Minnesota scored nine minutes into the first period as Edmontons Nail Yakupov completely lost control of a puck in front of his own net on a horrendous giveaway to Justin Fontaine, who quickly dished it to Niederreiter for a gift goal on Oilers starter Viktor Fasth. It was Niederreiters first goal in 17 games and 15th of the season.Parise took an errant puck in the mouth with just over seven minutes remaining in the opening period and left the game to get some work done. He returned to start the second.Minnesota had 10 shots in the first 20 minutes, while Edmonton responded with five on Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk.Edmontons best chance in the first half of the game came midway through the second when JJustin Schultz had a partial breakaway and got Dubnyk to go down on the play before the Wild goalie made an impressive glove save to deflect the puck over the net. Cheap NHL Jerseys. he Oilers tied the game 1-1 with 2:44 left in the second period as Gordons backhand wraparound from behind the net hit the skate of Minnesotas Kyle Brodziak in front and deflected into the net.Edmonton came close to taking the lead early in the third as Dubnyk gave the puck away to Jordan Eberle, but Wild defender Ryan Suter kept it out and Minnesota eventually cleared it after a brief scramble in front of the net.The Oilers missed another opportunity just past the midmark as Yakupov made a perfect pass on a two-on-one, but Teddy Purcell shot the puck wide of the Wild net.Minnesota went up 2-1 with 4:23 left in the third as Eberle coughed up the puck on a drop pass that deflected off Matt Frasers skate, sending Coyle in on a breakaway. Coyle waited for Fasth to commit, then tucked the puck behind him on his way behind the net.It was a turnover by them and I happened to be there, Coyle said. I saw a clear lane and I just tried taking it to the net, luckily I finished it off and it rolled in, so it was nice.It was Coyles fifth goal of the season.They got a turnover outside of our blue-line and he made a pretty move, you have got to give it to him, Fasth said. I got caught a bit far out I think, but the guy made a great move.Edmonton had a power play for the final 1:22 of the game and pulled Fasth for the sixth attacker, but were unable to get the equalizer.Both teams return to the ice on Thursday as the Wild travel to Calgary to face the Flames and the Oilers remain home to take on the Buffalo Sabres in a match-up between the two teams at the bottom of the NHL standings.Notes: It was the first of three meetings between the two teams this season. Minnesota was 2-0-1 against the Oilers last season… Oilers forward Taylor Hall sat out the game after taking a shot to the leg in practice on Monday… Minnesotas Dubnyk made his first start against his former Oilers team since a trade brought him to the Wild from the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 14 for a third-round pick in the 2015 NHL draft. Dubnyk made three appearances against Edmonton with the Coyotes earlier this season, going 3-0-0 with a 0.97 goals-against average… Minnesota centre Mikael Granlund was back in the lineup after missing 13 games following wrist surgery from an injury sustained in a game on Dec. 27… Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper was assigned to Iowa of the American Hockey League for a conditioning stint on Monday. Minnesota also recalled defenceman Stu Bickel from Iowa. However, he did not dress for the game… Out injured for the Wild was Keith Ballard (concussion), while Tyler Pitlick (lacerated spleen) was absent from the Oilers lineup. ' ' '