Thank goodness England have got to Brazil but let’s not get carried away.
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Brazil and Argentina are my favourites to win the World Cup with Chile as my outside bet.
It’s going to be hard for any European team to win this tournament in South America.
But if any team can it’s got to be Spain who will be best suited to the conditions.
As for England it’s important to keep everyone’s feet on the ground.
To be honest if we got to the quarter-finals that would be a successful campaign for us.
I don’t think we can expect to go any further as it’s difficult to imagine we have enough quality to beat the best teams over there.
And to make it more difficult we are not going to be seeded – we’re up to 10th place in the rankings but that’s not enough.
Fair play to Roy Hodgson and the team for qualifying the way they did with those two wins over Montenegro and Poland.
I thought Roy was very positive in his team selections and, under quite considerable pressure, his team performed pretty well.
There are some decent young players coming through and they didn’t let England down.
Roy made a point in the build-up to the two games that he will have half-an-eye on Euro 2016 when it comes to picking his World Cup squad.
And I’m encouraged by that because that’s the right thing to do.
I don’t think we are in a position where we can go and win the World Cup so why not make ourselves better equipped to win the next tournament.
You’ve got to plan long-term so it’s encouraging to hear the national coach talking about bringing the young players through and freshening things up.
But as I said before it’s going to be tough for a team from Europe being crowned the world champions.
Spain are Europe’s top contenders because they expend less energy the way they play.
Their style is more suited to South American football.
They move the ball about so well-they have got their passing and movement down to an art-form almost.
Their passing in midfield opens teams up and it’s hard to get the ball back when you are playing them.
But being such an offensive team they are always susceptible to the counter-attack when they leave gaps at the back.
England left us all a little deflated by their awful World Cup Final campaign three years ago.
We were battered 4-1 in the last-16 by Germany where Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal, when the ball was clearly over the line, papered over a few cracks and gave people excuses.
But at least we are going to Brazil in good spirits after these two wins and I can’t wait for the action to start.
*Now read Matt’s Manchester United vs Southampton preview on www.goaldengoals.co.uk and see why he’s in dream world.
This photograph was provided by Goalden Goals.
