Lineker predicates France as World Cup favorites

CAIRO – 30 November 2017: The World Cup draw ceremony presenter and former English striker, Gary Lineker, revealed that he does not see England as a favorite for the World Cup title.

“I don’t think they’re among the favorites this time. We haven’t been for a while in fact. We’ve got some talented players coming through, some very good young players, though next year is maybe going to come a bit too soon for them,” Lineker told FIFA on Thursday.

Lineker represented England at four major tournaments, the 1986 World Cup, the UEFA EURO 1988, the 1990 World Cup and the UEFA EURO 1992.

Lineker was the 1986 top goal scorer with six goals. He scored 48 goals for England in 80 games; he is the third top goal scorer in the nation’s history after Wayne Rooney and Sir Bobby Charlton.

Speaking about his favorite candidates for the title, he said, “it’s probably going to be the usual suspects: Brazil and Germany. You can’t rule them out as history shows that they’ve always been successful. Spain will be competitive again, but if I had to pick a team right now, for the squad they have, I’d go for France.”

Lineker will present the draw ceremony alongside Russian journalist Maria Komandnaya.