The 2014 FIFA World Cup is quickly approaching. Just like with the Olympics, it is our duty to gain as much knowledge about the event as possible. That way, we can sound smart and cultured to our friends and coworkers. These dashboards should help you to cover some key talking points and will let you go into some depth if you really want to show off.

The “Distance Between Group Stage Game Sites” dashboard covers where each team will be playing their three first-round games and will help to illuminate some of the discrepancies. The U.S. team looks to have the Frequent Flyer Trophy™ all wrapped up, while you probably know someone that will log more miles commuting than Belgium’s 434 miles over the two weeks of group stage play.

If you’re more of the numbers type, the “Stats Dashboard” covers each group and breaks teams down in a few different ways. You can see how many goals the current squad has scored for their country, how many international games they’ve played (caps) and how many of the 23 players on each team play in the sport’s toughest annual competition – the Champions League. Enjoy, and feel free to leave your predictions in the Comments section below!

Because the viz has so many details, I’ve linked to the full-sized version in the image below.