I believe that France will brink the jinx of no European team having won outside of Europe in this years much awaited World Cup tournament in Japan and Korea.
For me, the French are the best team in the World at this time and perhaps only Argentina or Italy can stop them from reclaiming the coveted tropy.
Barthez, Lizarazu, Thuram, Lebeouf, Desailly, Silvestre, Zidane, Petit, Vieira, Henry, Wiltord, Trezeguet, Djorkaeff and a host of others waiting in the wings to take France through the 7 matches.
Contrast this with other rivals – Argentina, Italy, Brazil, Portugal, Spain and Germany and they are well short of the quality replacements required to take into account knocks to the first choice 11.
As for England, well beyond being patriotic I can't see them progressing past the second round unless they can pull of something amazing and win the dreaded group of death.
Given the injury problems we have, combined with a couple of quite ordinary performances in the warm-ups, against Korea and Cameroon, and second place in the group looks like an achievement.
This would place us directly in the path of the French juggernaut and with questions over who plays right back and who is going to fill the left midfield void then you can't see us having enough to stop the likes of Zidane and company.
Whoever does win Group F certainly has a great chance to get through to the semi-finals where, once again, the French would lie in wait.
I'm sure that there are going to be some upsets along the way. From having watched the African Nations cup I think we can expect to see one of the teams, Cameroon, pushing on into the later stages.
I don't expect either of the hosts to go beyond the first round but the exhilaration of hosting the event will carry them on to the finishing line long after their teams have departed from the competition.
I don't think that the Brazilians, Germans, Spanish or Portuguese have enough to get them through to the final hurdle.
However, watch the Italians. They certainly have the favorable side of the draw and will get to the quarterfinals without any great strain. I actually tip them, along with the bookmakers, to make it to the final where they will play the winners of the France-Argentina second semi-final.
Still, whatever happens England have at least 3 matches, and if luck is on our side and with Sven in command, possibly four to seven matches (please!!)
Better to be a part of it than watching it without real interest like the Scots or Welsh.
Also, it will help to fill the void left by the pre-season break before Wolves fight again to get into that elusive Premiership.
Enjoy.