Spain Will Be A Problem At The World Cup – Laurent Blanc

Laurent Blanc says top teams will want to avoid 2010 champs Spain in Friday’s World Cup draw.

Blanc counts Julen Lopetegui’s team among the favourites to win it all in Russia next summer, said the two had been grouped together in a previous practise draw.

“We did so many draws, you know. We did four practise draws and I think tomorrow we’ll do one or two more. For your information, in one of the draws, we had France-Spain,” Blanc said.

“Spain is going to be a problem, because they’re in Pot 2. I would think that with Spain and England in Pot 2, there are a lot of teams that will want to avoid them.”

Meanwhile, Blanc highlighted the draw’s importance for the nations dreaming of winning the competition, and the helplessness a coach feels during the selection process.

“You can’t do anything about it [as a coach]. You just wait,” Blanc said. “You need things to go your way a little bit to win the World Cup and that starts right here, with the draw. Any draw, whether that’s in a World Cup or a Champions League, for example.

“So tomorrow is an important day. One, to know your opponents. But also to start planning, as a coach, to know where you going to play. It’s good to have games close together so that you have as little travel and as much recovery time as possible.”

“I think that all of the people I’ve spoken with about France’s potential agree that it’s huge. Maybe they still lack a little bit of experience and maturity,” he admitted. “It’s true that there are teams — through their results, their experience and their history — that come in as powerful favourites for this World Cup. But I don’t think France is far off.”