Tuesday, 3rd December, 2013
England would rather enjoy a favourable group of World Cup venues than group-stage opponents, coach Roy Hodgson has admitted ahead of Friday's draw.
FIFA are set to decide on the groups for the 32 qualified nations for next year's tournament to be held in Brazil.
England will not be seeded, which means they could end up in a veritable 'group of death' though Hodgson would not mind going up against powerhouses such as Argentina.
The former Fulham and Liverpool manager was quoted on the BBC as saying: "You always hope the draw is going to be kind to you in terms of where you are going to be asked to play.
relatedNewsStory
"I'm more concerned by the venues than by the teams we draw. There are venues in Brazil that will be harder to play in than others.
"[In terms of opponents] we will get what we get. The most important thing is to be there.
"We don't know how good Argentina are, we would all think 'blimey, Argentina are strong' but we don't know that. They might be no stronger than Chile.
"The good thing is that if we get Argentina, for example, we will be there and have a chance to play them and believe we can go out and beat them."
The eight seeds for the World Cup draw are Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Colombia and Uruguay.
Top tips from tipsters who know the game and betting match previews. Make sure you visit Inside Bet!
