Bracket Challenge Introduction

Here we go folks, it's Bracketology Futbology time! We'll start with a little intro. For those of you who don't know a thing about soccer hopefully this is interesting and informative - those who you who may fall a bit more towards the fanatical side of the curve may are cordially invited to proceed to step 2. :)

Intro to How this Whole thing Works (Or, World Cup Bracket Challenge "Kick-starter" Instructions):

For those of you wondering how this whole World Cup thing works and how in the world to fill out a bracket for it... here's a quick-ish explanation.

- The top 8 teams were "seeded" and placed at the top of their own group.  A group consists of four teams.  There was then a very clunky lottery process where the other 24 teams who qualified from there regions were then placed into those groups, leaving us with our starting point for our 32 team tournament.  The first round is the Group Stage, where each team playing all the other teams in it's group once.  The top two teams in each group then move into the Round of 16 and it becomes a standard knockout tournament from there on.
* Got it so far?  Okay 50% comprehension is pretty good.  Next...

-  To be the top team in your group you simply have to have the most points at the end of the Group Stage.  How do you get points? Goals?  No, that'd be to easy, right? You get 3 points for a win, 1 for a tie and 0 for a loss. (There is a tie breaker for teams who have the same amount of points at the end of the stage but we'll hold back here since that's puts us on the slippery slope to "geeking out" a little too much.)  Simply, the team with the most points gets first in the group, the next team gets second.  (Yeah, I know)  Example of how this applies to YOUR bracket selection:  So if you think Brazil, who is in Group A, will get more points then the other three teams in their group click on them FIRST!  That will put them in the A-1 spot. If you think Croatia will get the 2nd most points, click on them SECOND, they will go in the A-2 spot.

"But what if I pick Brazil 1st and they end up 2nd? Does that mean my whole bracket is ruined?"  Nah.  You still get credit for picking Brazil.  Your buddy who picked them first will just get a little bit more credit (by ESPN scoring standards).  Don't fret, if you pick a team to get into the Round of 16, but pick them in the wrong order, your bracket will automatically adjust them to where they're supposed to be and you'll get off with just a yellow card.  (Mom, that's a soccer reference)

- After that it is a pure head to head bracket.  You pick who goes through to the next round and who wins the whole thing.  The best bracket standing after the Final hits the jackpot.  Go get em tiger!