Sports Who will win the WK 2014 in Brazil?

[RS2000 4X4]

Please post your thought of who will win the WK2014 from now till the finale.

Brazil - Colombia => Brazil
France - Germany => Germany
Holland - Costa Rica => Holland (I really hope)
Argentina - Belgium => Belgium (I really really really hope so!!! )

Brazil - Germany => Germany
Holland - Belgium => Belgium (Hopefully but not without feeling sorry for Holland)

German - Belgium => Belgium (but my head says Germany)

Come on guys, take a vote and post

 

[KiwiRob]

Maybe you haven't worked it out yet but Holland isn't a country, The Netherlands is a country, Holland is a region (North & South Holland) within The Netherlands.

 

[Betty Swollocks]

Maybe you haven't worked it out yet but Holland isn't a country, The Netherlands is a country, Holland is a region (North & South Holland) within The Netherlands.

View attachment 186669

Of course you are correct, but informally it's accepted that "Holland" can also refer to the country of the* Netherlands as a whole, especially when it comes to the national football team. Linguistically it's a pars pro toto similar to use of Russia for what used to be known as the Soviet Union, and England for the United Kingdom. People from the other regions such as Flevoland and Limburg don't like this however. Certainly in conversations I have with my Dutch friends, Holland and Netherlands are frequently used interchangeably.

* The "t" in "the Netherlands" is not capitalised either.

 

[klier]

Maybe you haven't worked it out yet but Holland isn't a country, The Netherlands is a country, Holland is a region (North & South Holland) within The Netherlands.

View attachment 186669

Technically you are correct, but Holland and Netherlands are interchangeable, particularly with football.
RX2000 is from Belgium, which used to be a part of the same country. Trust me, he knows.

Back on topic, guys, come on: all the others have been world champion several times, yet the Netherlands has been in so many finals and semi finals! Now is our turn......P-L-E-A-S-E!!

 

[RS2000 4X4]

Technically you are correct, but Holland and Netherlands are interchangeable, particularly with football.
RX2000 is from Belgium, which used to be a part of the same country. Trust me, he knows.

Back on topic, guys, come on: all the others have been world champion several times, yet the Netherlands has been in so many finals and semi finals! Now is our turn......P-L-E-A-S-E!!

Thanks Klier!

And yep the vote goes to Holland (or the Netherlands for the ones who likes this better)

 

[KiwiRob]

Of course you are correct, but informally it's accepted that "Holland" can also refer to the country of the* Netherlands as a whole, especially when it comes to the national football team. Linguistically it's a pars pro toto similar to use of Russia for what used to be known as the Soviet Union, and England for the United Kingdom. People from the other regions such as Flevoland and Limburg don't like this however. Certainly in conversations I have with my Dutch friends, Holland and Netherlands are frequently used interchangeably.

* The "t" in "the Netherlands" is not capitalised either.

I've got a Dutch friend who would slap me sideways if I ever called the Netherlands Holland, ignorance is no excuse, same as people referring to the United Kingdom as England, it's incorrect and shows a lack of basic geographic knowledge.

 

[martinbo]

Sheesh - let's leave the demographic-geographic semantics out of this thread please?