Gary Lineker has named the 2 ‘favourites’ to win the World Cup this summer ahead of England.
Thomas Tuchel will try to lead England to only their second World Cup trophy and first in 60 years when the Three Lions travel to america.
England threatened to secure silverware a lot of times under former manager Sir Gareth Southgate but ultimately fell short, losing two European Championship finals and going deep in two World Cups.
Confidence is high that England can challenge once more under Champions League-winning manager Tuchel, who has the likes of record goalscorer Harry Kane and Premier League Player of the 12 months contender Declan Rice at his disposal.
Lineker views England as ‘one among the frontrunners’ to win the World Cup but insists they’re behind Spain and France within the pecking order.
Spain go into the World Cup as European champions, having beaten England within the Euro 2024 final, while France won the World Cup in 2018 before losing in the ultimate 4 years later.
‘The World Cup is getting very close now,’ ex-England striker Lineker, the 1986 World Cup top goalscorer, said on The Rest is Football podcast.
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‘I do know Spain are literally the bookies’ favourites, closely followed by England, France, Argentina and Brazil. I feel they’re the massive five.
‘France have gotten a hell of a squad, haven’t they? They’ve a tremendous squad, but I’m going to go together with Spain.
‘I feel they might do a repeat of what they did a decade or so ago and win consecutive tournaments. I mean, they’ve got some players, Spain.
‘I feel Spain need to be the team to beat, Obviously, we’d all love England to win. Portugal could possibly be a good outside bet as well.
‘They’ll have to regulate the narrative around [Cristiano] Ronaldo and manage his minutes and see if he accepts that. That might be vital for them.
‘But they’ve some cracking players. I feel it’s a very good outside bet, Portugal. Also, don’t rule out Argentina and even Brazil.
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‘But I’m going with Spain. England are definitely one among the frontrunners but I feel Spain need to be favourites ahead of us, personally I feel France too.
‘I feel in recent tournaments, the English team has progressed sufficiently to have a probability of winning it. But I can’t remember any of us actually predicting England to win a tournament for some time.’
Former England defender Micah Richards added: ‘I’d all the time back England, especially with the players they’ve available.
‘The one slight concern for me is the climate. The climate, guys, you understand what it’s like playing in that heat.
‘The players from Spain, Italy and France generally play in higher weather and are perhaps higher equipped to play in the warmth. If I had to choose one, I’d go together with you and select Spain.’
England begin their World Cup campaign on June 17 against Croatia. Ghana and Panama are the opposite two teams in Group L.
Of their final international break before the World Cup, a much-changed England team drew 1-1 with Uruguay on Friday. Tuchel’s side face Japan in one other friendly on Tuesday.
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