England Group Stage Prediction: John Barnes says it won’t be easy

It's just over two weeks until the World Cup is underway and here at Betfred, World Cup fever is starting to bubble up nicely. 

We're delighted to have England legend John Barnes on board as our official World Cup Ambassador throughout the tournament, where he will provide us with his expert knowledge and insight into all the big talking points throughout the five-week event from across the pond. 

In the first of a series of interviews, Barnes talks us through England's chances of progressing from Group L and their chances for the title overall. Here is John Barnes England group stage prediction...

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New customers only. Deposit via Debit Card & place first bet £10+ (1/1+) on Sports in 7 days. £30 Sports & £20 Acca Free Bets within 10 hrs of settlement. 7-day expiry. Eligibility, payment excl. & T&Cs Apply.

World Cup Odds

We spoke to John, who was based at a sunny Wembley Stadium and asked him if he saw England topping their group, which includes Croatia, Ghana and Panama, fairly easily?

“I can’t say they’ll top the group easily because Croatia are a good side, so are Ghana and it’s going to be hot. The name of the game is to go through and the thing with England, people are quite negative when you don’t go through in style.

But you’ve seen teams win the World Cup who have either lost or drawn in the group stages, so our expectations affect the morale of the fans. I expect us to go through but no match in the World Cup is ‘quite easy’.

John Barnes

We also asked Barnesy what he thought of England's overall chances of winning the World Cup:

"Like in previous tournaments, England can go deep into it. Depending on how the group stages go, which are usually sorted in a way for the big boys to go through, they could end up with a team like France in the quarter or semi-finals and lose, but they can also win.

Gareth Southgate maximised their potential and got us to quarter-finals, semi-finals and final and that’s where I think we’ll get, but for me to say that I think we’ll win it is unrealistic.

For me, France are the strongest team and favourites and Spain and England will be just behind them, so we’ve got a great chance but to then expect them to win it and say that if they don’t win it’s a failure, is wrong."

John Barnes