Pele fancies Italy, France, Argentina and England
Brazil's Pele forecast on Tuesday that France, Italy, Argentina, and England would reach the semifinals of the World Cup and said his own countrymen would be hard pressed to get past Turkey in the opening round.
Pele, who retired more than 20 years ago but remains one of the world's most admired sporting heroes, said that if the tournament were held today the three European countries and Argentina would be sure contenders for a place in the final.
Close on their heels would be Brazil, Spain and Portugal, while Croatia, Russia and Nigeria could engineer an upset, he said.
"That is today, now in the World Cup it's very different," Pele told a news conference.
The World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan begin on May 31.
PORTUGUESE PROMISE
Pele said Portugal, who knocked the Netherlands out of the World Cup qualifiers and held former world champions Brazil to a draw in an April 17 friendly, would be a force to be reckoned with.
"Portugal has a very organised team, they have a chance to go there (to the semifinals)," he said.
Portugal are grouped with South Korea, Poland and the United States in the opening round.
Pele, who played in four World Cups for Brazil between 1958 and 1970, jokingly urged children at Tuesday's events to keep Brazil in their thoughts and "help Brazil, because Brazil doesn't play very well now".
He said Brazil faced a dangerous qualifying round even though they had been drawn in a relatively safe first-round group with Turkey, China and Costa Rica.
"The most difficult for Brazil will be against Turkey. They have 15 players of the national team that play in Europe, they are very experienced," Pele said.
"They don't have a name, people don't know them, they have never come to the final but for Brazil, for the first game, I think it will be very difficult for them, the Turks will be tough for Brazil."
Pele also predicted that Portugal's Luis Figo, the FIFA Player of the Year, would dominate the tournament.
Other players he picked to shine were England's Michael Owen, Frenchman Zinedine Zidane, Spain's Raul and Brazilians Ronaldo and Rivaldo.
