Countdown...

With just 49 days left to the ultimate football festival, all the teams are gearing up to have a good run in Russia. The regular favourites - Germany, Brazil and Spain will be thereabouts but France, Belgium and England have decent teams too and can cause some upsets, especially with Italy and the Dutch watching from the sidelines.

Germany , being the defending champions and also since they have a plethora of talented players, are expected to make it to the finals (and win it!). Brazil, wounded and still hurting by the 7-1 mauling by Germany will want to rise back to the top. With their current stars and they way they are playing, they have a very good chance of adding another world cup to their already impressive collection.

Similar to Brazil, much fancied Spain were brought back to earth by the Dutch and they never really recovered from that van Persie header in the last outing. Spain should be there in the last eight at least and in the knockout stages, you never know what can happen.

Belgium has a very talented squad on paper and England have a decent team (with a good striker since Shearer) but they seem to fall short on the big stage.

The surprise package I would bet on is France! They are playing like a team and with all the talent that they have, they might just nick it in front of everyone's eyes!