With the calendar inching ever so closely to 2014, now would be a good time to take a first crack at making my World Cup predictions. Reserving the right to change course - perhaps drastically - and admittedly without much research, here's an initial gut feeling of how it may go:

Group winners
A: Brazil; B: Spain; C: Ivory Coast; D: Italy; E: Switzerland; F: Argentina; G: Germany; H: Belgium

Group runners-up
A: Croatia; B: Chile; C: Japan; D: Uruguay; E: France; F: Nigeria; G: United States; H: South Korea

Round of 16
Brazil def. Chile
Uruguay def. Ivory Coast
Switzerland def. Nigeria
Germany def. South Korea
Spain def. Croatia
Italy def. Japan
Argentina def. France
Belgium def. United States

Quarterfinals
Uruguay def. Brazil
Germany def. Switzerland
Spain def. Italy
Belgium def. Argentina

Semifinals
Uruguay def. Germany
Spain def. Belgium 

Third-place match
Germany def. Belgium


Final
Spain def. Uruguay


Again, this will probably change as we go along, but initially, this seems to make sense.

- Chris Lillstrung | @CLillstrungNH