Sixty-four years after Brazil last staged the World Cup, 65,000 fans will scream the hosts on as Luiz Felipe Scolari's side open the 2014 tournament against Croatia in Sao Paulo on Thursday, 12 June.
The five-time winners are the bookmakers' favourites to make it six titles on home soil and face a Croatia side who only qualified by beating Iceland in the play-offs.
Expectations in Brazil have been on the rise since Scolari guided his side to victory in last summer's Confederations Cup, when Barcelona's £48m forward Neymar impressed on the way to a 3-0 final win over defending World Cup winners Spain.
Chelsea trio Oscar, David Luiz and Ramires could all feature for the Selecao, as could Tottenham midfielder Paulinho.
Familiar faces which could be in the Croatia line-up include former Tottenham midfielder Luka Modric, Everton striker Nikica Jelavic and Southampton centre-back Dejan Lovren. Croatia finished third in their first World Cup finals in 1998 but have won just one match since.
The two sides met in their opening group game in Germany in 2006 - when AC Milan forward Kaka scored the only goal.
Defending champions handed tough draw
Spain have won their last three major tournaments and head to Brazil hoping to become the first European team to win a World Cup on South American soil.
But manager Vicente Del Bosque saw his team handed arguably the toughest of the groups in Group B, as Spain were placed up against 2010 finalists Netherlands and Chile.
The Dutch won nine of 10 qualifying games and still have the core of the side which reached the final in South Africa, with Manchester United striker Robin van Persie and Bayern Munich forward Arjen Robben in lethal form for their clubs.
Chile, meanwhile, pushed Spain all the way for their 2-1 win in the group stage four years ago and beat England comfortably at Wembley last month.
The champions' task is made harder by the fact that the runners-up in their group are likely to face Brazil in the last 16.
England's Amazon assignment
England were hoping not to visit the Amazon jungle during their time in Brazil, but instead they will have to face four-times winner Italy in their opening match in Manaus in sweltering temperatures of 30C.
As if that task was not daunting enough, Roy Hodgson's boys have been told they are not welcome in Manaus because of Hodgson's comments before the draw, where he stated a trip north would not be ideal. England should probably prepare for a fiery welcome to the jungle.
However, England's preparations for the tournament are expected to include two matches in the United States, where Hodgson will base his team in the humidity of Miami.
But with Italy experiencing the heat of Brazil during last summer's Confederations Cup, England could be left sweating on progress from Group D.
Fortune favours the French
If the draw followed the same procedures as in 2006, France, as the lowest-ranked team to qualify from Europe, would have been placed in a group with one of the seeded teams from South America. Instead, the format for the draw was changed and it was Italy who ended up in with Uruguay and England.
The French? They will surely fancy their chances of qualifying from a group containing Switzerland, Ecuador and Honduras. "It's true, I won't hide it from you, it could have been tougher," said France coach Didier Deschamps.
The 1998 champions finished bottom of their group in the last World Cup but with a potential second-round tie against either Nigeria or Bosnia-Hercegovina on the cards, Deschamps' men could be dark horses for a shot in Brazil.
Messi and Ronaldo go for greatness
With over 300 goals for Barcelona, four Ballon d'or awards, six La Liga titles and three Champions League winners' medals to his name, Lionel Messi has arguably already cemented his place among the sport's all-time greats.
Alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, he has dominated Spanish and European football for the last four seasons.
But a World Cup title eludes the duo, and their individual records are poor. Messi has scored just once in a World Cup finals match for Argentina - the sixth in a 6-0 thrashing of Serbia in Germany - while Portugal captain Ronaldo can only claim goals against Iran andNorth Korea.
Maradona carried Argentina to the trophy in 1986 while Pele won three titles with Brazil and a similar display from the modern game's two leading men may finally end the argument over who is the better player.
Over the past few years both men have shone on the international stage. Ronaldo was at his brilliant best during Portugal's run to the last four in Euro 2012 and scored a hat-trick in their play-off win in Sweden which booked their place in Brazil.
Messi scored a hat-trick against Brazil last summer and has finally brought his club form to Argentina, with his record now an impressive 37 goals in 83 caps.
With Messi facing Iran, Bosnia and Nigeria in Group F, and Ronaldo's Portugal up against Germany, Ghana and the United States in Group G, both players will hope that they can lead their sides to glory next summer.
巴西队将在圣保罗参加世界杯揭幕战
六十四年之后，巴西将再度举办国际足联世界杯。6月12日，揭幕战将在巴西圣保罗打响。由路易斯·菲利普·斯科拉里（Luiz Felipe Scolari）率领的东道主巴西队首战将面对克罗地亚队，届时将会有65 000名球迷到现场助威。
博彩公司看好五届世界杯冠军得主巴西在本土捧杯。巴西队的首战对手克罗地亚队仅仅通过在附加赛中击败冰岛队才搭上前往巴西的末班车。
在去年夏天的联合会杯中，斯科拉里率领巴西队夺得冠军，因此巴西球迷对此次东道主在世界杯中的表现也寄予了厚望。在联合会杯决赛中，巴塞罗那俱乐部前锋，身价高达4800万英镑的内马尔表现技惊四座，帮助球队3：0完胜世界杯冠军西班牙队。
切尔西俱乐部三大主力球员奥斯卡（Oscar），大卫·路易斯（David Luiz）和拉米雷斯（Ramires），以及托特纳姆热刺队中场保利尼奥（Paulinho）都将在桑巴军团扮演重要的角色。
当然，一些熟悉的面孔也将出现在克罗地亚阵营当中：前托特纳姆热刺队中场卢卡·莫德里奇（Luka Modric），埃弗顿前锋尼迪卡·耶拉维奇（Nikica Jelavic）和南开普敦中后卫德扬·洛夫伦（Dejan Lovren）。克罗地亚队第一次闯进世界杯决赛圈是在1998年，那一次他们获得第三名。那之后，他们只在世界杯决赛圈中赢过一场比赛。
两队曾在2006年德国世界杯小组赛相遇，当时AC米兰前锋卡卡打入全场唯一一粒进球。
西班牙队陷“死亡之组”
西班牙已经赢得了最近三界世界大赛的冠军。他们此次前往巴西世界杯的目标是成为第一支在南美大陆上获得世界杯冠军的欧洲球队。
但是，球队主教练文森特·德尔·博斯克（Vicente Del Bosque）不得不接受西班牙队被分到竞争尤为激烈的B组的现实，他们将在小组赛中先后对阵2010年世界杯亚军荷兰队与南美劲旅智利队。
荷兰队在十场预选赛中赢得了九场胜利。在南非世界杯上带领球队闯进决赛的两大核心仍在队中效力——曼联前锋罗宾·范佩西（Robin van Persie）和拜仁慕尼黑前锋阿尔杰·罗本（Arjen Robben）在各自俱乐部中都状态正佳。
与此同时，智利队上个月在温布利轻取英格兰队。而在四年前的世界杯小组赛中，智利队让西班牙费尽九牛二虎之力才以2：1取胜。
卫冕之路必定困难重重——B组的第二名极有可能在16强中遭遇东道主巴西队。
英格兰队的“亚马逊任务”
英格兰队可不想在巴西世界杯期间游览亚马逊丛林。但是他们不得不在30度的高温下在玛瑙斯（Manaus）首战对阵四界冠军得主意大利队。
英格兰的严峻形势还不止于此。主教练罗伊·霍奇森（Roy Hodgson）的球队已被告知不会受到玛瑙斯市的款待，原因是霍奇森曾经在抽签仪式之前表示，不希望球队前往巴西北部进行比赛（编者注：玛瑙斯位于巴西东北部）。看来英格兰队必须准备好迎接“炙热的丛林”了。
为了准备此次的“丛林之旅”，英格兰队将会在美国迈阿密进行两场适应性比赛，以适应世界杯主办城市的空气湿度。
对手意大利队曾在去年夏天的联合会杯上就受到过巴西酷热天气的考验，所以英格兰队想要从D组出线必将需要付出汗水的代价。
幸运之神眷顾法国队
如果抽签规则和2006年世界杯相同的话，法国队将作为欧洲排名垫底的球队在小组赛中和来自南美的一支种子球队相遇。但是，由于抽签规则的改变，最后是意大利队被抽入了拥有乌拉圭和英格兰两只强队的死亡之组。
那么法国队呢？他们无疑会对抽到瑞士，厄瓜多尔和洪都拉斯三个小组对手感到满意。法国主帅迪迪埃·德尚（Didier Deschamps）说：“没错，我不想藏着掖着，我们确实抽到了上上签。”
法国队作为1998年世界杯冠军，在上一届世界杯中仅获得小组赛最后一名。但是此次世界杯，法国队将有可能成为黑马，因为在第二轮淘汰赛中他们多半将对阵尼日利亚队或是波黑队。
梅西与C罗将为伟大而战
为巴塞罗那俱乐部攻入超过300粒进球，4次获得金球奖，6次西甲冠军和3次欧冠冠军，里奥内尔·梅西（Lionel Messi）获得的荣誉已经足以奠定他历史上最伟大的运动员之一的地位。
他与克里斯蒂亚诺·罗纳尔多（Cristiano Ronaldo）一道在过去四个赛季统治了西班牙和欧洲足坛。
但是在世界杯中，两大巨星的数据都是很糟糕的。梅西在世界杯决赛圈中只为阿根廷队进过一个球，那是在德国世界杯上阿根廷以6:0大胜塞尔维亚队的比赛。而葡萄牙队队长罗纳尔多只在对阵伊朗和朝鲜的比赛中进过球。
马拉多纳曾在1986年带领阿根廷队夺得世界杯冠军，而贝利也帮助巴西队赢得三个世界杯冠军。相似的较量将在现役两大巨星中展开，而这或许将会决出谁才是最出色的球员。
过去几年，两大巨星的表现足以闪耀国际足坛。罗纳尔多正值职业生涯巅峰期。2012年欧洲杯中，葡萄牙队冲进前四，在对阵瑞典队的世界杯预选赛附加赛中，C罗上演帽子戏法帮助球队锁定巴西世界杯一席。
梅西在去年夏天对阵巴西队时曾上演帽子戏法，而他也将俱乐部中的良好的状态带到了国家队中。目前他代表国家队出场83次，打进37球，表现优异。
梅西将率队迎接同在F组中的伊朗，波黑以及尼日利亚队的挑战，C罗将带领葡萄牙队挑战G组的德国，加纳以及美国队。而两大巨星也希望在世界杯中率领球队取得优异的成绩。
更多精彩尽在2014世界杯
