Gary Lineker names his favourites to win World Cup - and it's not England

Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, Lineker analysed the leading contenders and suggested that England still have a gap to bridge. He pointed to Spain’s ability to dominate tournaments as the deciding factor in his prediction.

The 1986 Golden Boot winner explained: "The World Cup is getting very close now. I know Spain are actually the bookies’ favourites, closely followed by England, France, Argentina and Brazil. I think they’re the big five.

"France have got a hell of a squad, haven’t they? They have an amazing squad, but I’m going to go with Spain. I think they could do a repeat of what they did a decade or so ago and win consecutive tournaments. I mean, they’ve got some players, Spain.

"I think Spain have to be the team to beat, Obviously, we’d all love England to win. Portugal could be a decent outside bet as well. They will have to control the narrative around [Cristiano] Ronaldo and manage his minutes and see if he accepts that. That will be important for them. But they have got some cracking players.

"I think it’s a good outside bet, Portugal. Also, don’t rule out Argentina and even Brazil. But I’m going with Spain. England are definitely one of the frontrunners but I think Spain have to be favourites ahead of us, personally I think France too.

"I think in recent tournaments, the English team has progressed sufficiently to have a chance of winning it. But I can’t remember any of us actually predicting England to win a tournament for a while."

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