Sergej Jakirovic believes England has what it takes to win the World Cup, as the Three Lions prepare for their opening game of the tournament against Croatia in Arlington on Wednesday evening.
Jakirovic has been impressed by the way Thomas Tuchel has put together his squad, albeit controversial on English shores, with the likes of Morgan Gibbs-White, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, and ex-City pair Harry Maguire and Jarrod Bowen omitted.
England qualified with consummate ease and then saw off New Zealand and Costa Rica comfortably in their two warm-up games in Florida, and arrive as one of the favourites, but the conditions across the Atlantic could prove challenging for European teams.
The promotion-winning City head coach says that those who deal with and adapt to the conditions will have a huge advantage when it comes to the latter stages.
“God knows,” he told Hull Live when asked who he thought would be favourites. “We will see who will go through after the group stages and who will go home, and who will go into the quarter-finals, but there are a lot of good teams, so it will be very interesting to see who will adapt to these weather conditions. I will be watching at home on television with interest.
“Of course (England can win it), they have a great squad, and I think that Mr Tuchel picked players by form, not by name, which is very important.”
Having been born in Bosnia and represented the country in his playing career, Jakirovic considers himself Croatian, and he believes the hunger in Zlatko Dalic’s squad could be telling.
“England against Croatia; it will be an interesting game for me,” he continued. “It’s 50/50 because Croatia has a very good, very experienced team with a good mix, with a lot of young players coming in. Those young players have ambitions, hunger, and also it’s Luka Modric’s last World Cup, so he will be fully motivated for this.”
Here at Hull Live, we are dedicated to bringing you the best Hull City coverage and analysis. Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group.
You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe. You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.