Wow, love this thread for so many reasons, hahaha ...
Went to 3 or 4 FC Phoenix games last summer and enjoyed them ... it's very, VERY minor league so don't expect a lot of amenities, but it's a nice night of sports for not a lot of coin. They had food trucks at a couple of the games last year and the prices of everything are really good.
World Cup ... wooooooo ... I was living in Germany in 2010, and the whole month was surreal ... took the whole thing off from work, went to Cologne/Frankfurt/etc for Germany games, Paris/Marseilles (France), Milan (Italy), etc ... it was huge, boozy, sexy street party after huge, boozy, sexy street party ... you haven't watched soccer until you and 3 other Americans take your cowboy hats / Statue of Liberty costumes / USA tracksuits to an East London pub and watch the Colonists vs the Empire with 200 of your new English "friends" ...
If you're looking for watching parties, Google / Facebook search for "AO Phoenix" to find contact info for the local American Outlaws fangroup ... they usually meet up at Tim Finnegan's on I-17 or the George and Dragon downtown to watch games, and both bars will have all the WC games on. Super-nice group that will help teach you a thing or two if need be and are fun to watch with. I'm stuck in Afghanistan this summer but the Afghans are huge fans too and we get the games on TV ... the guys I'm working with are mostly supporting Iran.
Hate making predictions, but what the heck.
Group A: Brazil, Croatia, Cameroon, Mexico
Group B: Holland, Chile, Spain, Australia (bet the farm that Spain disappoints ... the Madrid contingent just won the Champions League, the Barca contingent are on borrowed time as elite players, there hasn't been enough of a youth infusion and Chile are just going to run this team to death)
Group C: Colombia, Ivory Coast, Japan, Greece (is Falcao healthy?)
Group D: Italy, Uruguay, England, Costa Rica (Italy is soooo good right now)
Group E: France, Ecuador, Switzerland, Honduras
Group F: Bosnia, Argentina, Nigeria, Iran (those who know know Bosnia are loaded)
Group G: Germany, USA, Ghana, Portugal (Donovan missing won't matter, we're fine)
Group H: Belgium, South Korea, Russia, Algeria
Kinda as an aside, if anyone is ever headed over to Europe and wants to take in a game as part of their vacation, hit me up if you need tips/advice ... traveling for booze and sports is my favorite hobby in the world, and soccer is the one sport that rates ahead of hockey ...