BE CLINICAL, CYNICAL... AND NOT TOO TIRED!

ENGLAND

THEY simply must do better with the players they have. My advice would be that it’s not important to play well, it’s important to win. During the group stage, just grow into the tournament, don’t be precious about playing brilliantly. Italy were at their worst in the group at Spain ’82, then they beat Brazil and Argentina and won the World Cup. England need to be more clinical and more cynical. The big danger is that their players are exhausted. Premier League teams play towards a climax and then their bodies switch off. It takes time to recharge for a World Cup and it will not always happen in three weeks.

FRANCE

MY favourites. Look at the talent — they are the best team by far! They want to recover from losing the Euro 2016 final at home. In midfield there is Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante, and up front they have Antoine Griezmann, Anthony Martial and Kylian Mbappe. So many options.

BELGIUM

A HUGE threat to England. I have to support them as a Dutch neighbour. They have a golden generation and it’s time to step up. I was at their Euro 2016 quarter-final defeat by Wales and it was astonishing. I’m friends with Roberto Martinez, I hope he gets the best from them.

ARGENTINA

CAN only get better. Despite poor qualification form, they are there. But how is it possible that all those brilliant players can’t make a strong team? Even under new manager Jorge Sampaoli, they have struggled. For some reason, the best never comes out of them. Brazil are clearer. They want revenge for the 7-1 humbling by Germany.

HOLLAND

WHAT can I say? We are going to watch from home and it will be painful. We made mistakes. We need to improve the basics. There are six teams playing on plastic pitches in our top flight. In the Dutch second tier, almost everyone is on plastic. We are producing indoor players. Ruud Gullit was talking to ADAM CRAFTON courtesy of Hisense, 2018 FIFA World Cup sponsors.