Dave1962

France had an impressive qualifying campaign. They topped their group with five wins and one draw. Since then they have played four friendlies, winning three and losing one. They beat Brazil and Colombia, then very surprisingly lost to the Ivory Coast. Their last friendly was against Northern Ireland, where they had a comfortable win. Senegal's last two friendlies have left much for them to ponder, having lost to the USA and drawn with Saudi Arabia. France are joint favourites with the bookies to lift the trophy, and if playing to their best ability, they should be able to beat Senegal.

Defending world champions, Argentina start their tournament against a team ranked twenty-seven places lower than themselves. Algeria qualified for this tournament by finishing top of their group, and since then they reached the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, where they lost to Nigeria. Argentina finished top of their group in qualifying for this tournament, and since then have won all seven friendlies, keeping a clean sheet in six of them.

In qualifying, Austria finished top of their group, taking nineteen points from their eight games. They are ranked thirty-nine places higher than Jordan. They have won their last three matches, while Jordan come into this game on the back of two defeats.

Having won his last race of last season, Linwood reappeared at Newbury in the middle of April. From a ten-pound higher mark and in a field of twenty-four runners, Linwood carried on where he left off last season with a win. Both of those races were over one mile. Today Linwood runs in a field of thirty and from a three-pound higher mark. He is drawn in stall sixteen, and the Richard Hannon-trained horse has his regular jockey, Jamie Spencer, on board again today.

England return to competitive football, and with a full-strength team they should do much better than their last game, which was a friendly at home against Japan where they lost. England are ranked seven places higher than Croatia in the FIFA rankings. The last two times England have played Croatia they have won by a single goal. This could be another closely fought game. In qualifying, England won all eight games, while Croatia won seven and drew one. Another England win by a single-goal margin could once again be the outcome of this game.

Brazil last won the World Cup in 2002, and with no players like Pelé and Ronaldinho they will probably fall short again. They qualified in fifth place with the same number of points as Paraguay. Morocco are ranked two places lower than Brazil in the FIFA rankings. Morocco were awarded the Africa Cup of Nations trophy following the antics of Senegal. If Brazil fail to fire in their opening game against Morocco, then there is every chance Morocco will go on to win the group. Having already selected Morocco to beat Brazil in that game, it is only logical to select them to win the group.

Once again, the English fans will be full of hope that their team can win this tournament for the first time since 1966. They have the players to achieve this. In qualifying they won all eight games, scoring twenty-two goals and conceding none. If they can again be a team that is difficult to break down, the England team have a good chance of winning this competition.

For England to win the tournament, they will probably once again be relying on Harry Kane to be the main goalscorer. In addition to any goals he scores in open play, if any penalties are to be taken he is the player the team look to to take the spot kick. He has been in great form for Bayern Munich, so hopefully he can come away from this tournament as top goalscorer.