ENGLAND TIPPED

England are one of the contenders to win the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2014 according to Brazil’s technical director Carlos Alberto Parreira. Even though England come into the competition after not having won major tournament outside their home, Parreira reckons that the team has enough quality in order to become a real challenger for the title itself. England have not reached the semifinals of the World Cup since 1990 and many believe that the club are one of the favourites to get knocked out at the group stages itself.

This is because England have been given a tough group – at least on paper – with former champions like Uruguay and Italy also eyeing a place in the knockout stages. Chile are the other team, who are expected to be no pushovers since they have come in leaps and bounds over the last few years. Parreira managed to win the World Cup in 1994 and he says that England should be considered as a potential challenger. Roy Hodgson comes into the tournament with little pressure on him. This is unlike the stage that previous England managers found themselves in since there was usually a lot of expectation on the national team.

However, repeated failures appears to have brought about a change.

“The group is very tough … nobody can say right now who is going to survive in this group. If [England] survive they can go very far in the competition. We played them twice, we lost one and we drew the second one. The team is very good, I rate them as one of the favorites together with Spain, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Germany. I like Gerrard very much; he is, for me, a wonderful player,” said Parreira. He also stated that Steven Gerrard would be in the Brazilian team without a shadow of doubt.