Former England defender Rio Ferdinand has backed Spain to win this summer's World Cup, having previously named France as his favourites for the tournament.
Spain are putting the finishing touches on their preparations for a 17th appearance at a finals, 16 years on from their sole victory under Vicente del Bosque back in 2010. The reigning European champions will be striving to banish the memories of their last World Cup outing when they were dumped out at the round-of-16 stage at the hands of Morocco.
Luis de la Fuente's men – who sailed through qualifying with an unbeaten record – kick off their campaign against Cape Verde next Monday at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where they will no doubt look to set out their stall and lay down a marker.
With contests versus Saudi Arabia and Uruguay to follow, La Roja – captained by Manchester City's Rodri – are rated as the clear favourites to come out on top in Group H. Lingering doubts over the fitness of star man Lamine Yamal have clouded some of the pre-tournament excitement in Spain, but there is growing optimism that the 18-year-old sensation will return in time from his hamstring injury.
Ferdinand's initial France prediction
Previewing this summer's World Cup on the eve of the opening game, Ferdinand talked up France's chances of going all the way – before switching and picking Spain as his personal frontrunners.
'If Didier Deschamps manages [Ousmane] Dembele and [Kylian] Mbappe they'll go and win it. Right, Kylian, your best games, the best I've seen you, are from the left,' the ex-Manchester United centre-back said on the Rio Ferdinand Presents YouTube channel. 'You go on the left, you cut in and just slap goals and you get six goals this tournament. Dembele, you start the press and you finish things off and get five goals. [Desire] Doue on the right and [Michael] Olise in the No.10. Game over. Game over, no questions. No more questions, your honour!'
On the suggestion Mbappe could be the first player dropped if France's attack is misfiring, Ferdinand replied: 'Kylian Mbappe was instrumental in France winning the World Cup. He's going to be the highest goalscorer in World Cup history, no doubts, and you're talking about taking him out of the team? What are you talking about?!'
Switching to Spain
But when put on the spot and asked to pick his World Cup winners, Ferdinand responded: 'A fit Lamine Yamal, a fit Nico Williams and a fit Rodri… Spain take some beating. I've been saying France every day until today.'
Asked why he had decided to change his prediction, Ferdinand replied: 'I don't know, I just thought if those boys are fit then they go and win it.'
England's chances
Turning his attention to England, Ferdinand delivered a more pessimistic prediction, forecasting potential difficulties with the heat should Thomas Tuchel's men advance from Group L. 'I think semi-finals. But you know if it goes a certain way… there's always ifs, buts and maybes here,' he said of the Three Lions' chances. 'But if it goes a certain way then England could play Mexico, when they're out of the group stage, in Mexico which is probably one of the hottest cities we're going to be playing in at this time of year. And then if they get through they could play Brazil in Miami – probably the second hottest place you could play football. Then, no matter what happens, if they go through they're probably going to go home after that because they'll have zero left in the tank.'
Golden Ball prediction
Predicting his Golden Ball winner, Ferdinand – who appeared at two World Cups – picked out Olise as a name to watch out for on the back of the forward's outstanding season with Bayern Munich. The former Crystal Palace man scored 22 goals across an impressive debut season in Germany and completed a hat-trick in France's warm-up victory over Northern Ireland on Monday.
'I'm going with Olise,' Ferdinand said. 'He's in mad form, he's put the world on red alert pre-tournament with a hat-trick. What he was doing in the Champions League, what he did to Nuno Mendes, no winger has done that in the last two or three years. He had him on toast, he had him on ice skates.'
