World Cup 2014 has finally started. Last night’s opening match saw a lucky win for hosts Brazil.

I will be paying particular attention to how Spurs’ players at the tournament perform and keeping an eye out for possible transfer targets. You can read my run down of Tottenham involvement in the competition here.

This is the first England World Cup team in 60 years not to feature any Spurs players. Despite this, I’ll still be supporting England, my and of course Tottenham’s home country,

Here are my tournament predictions:

Winner: Germany

They have a fantastic team, full of young athletic players who should handle the heat. I’m tipping the German’s to finally break Europe’s duck in South America. They are lacking a top centre forward but that hasn’t held back Spain in previous tournaments.

Runner Up: Argentina

The Argentines have an incredible forward line, Messi, Aguero, Higuain and they have the advantage of coming from a country next door to Brazil. They will go close but I think the Germans will have the competitive and tactical edge.

Also Rans:

Brazil are of course the favourites. They have a capable team but it doesn’t contain the star names of the past. I think the incredible pressure of a home World Cup could actually work against them.

Spain are the current World and European Champions. They also have a great chance but this could be a tournament too far for tiki-taka.

Top Scorer: Sergio Aguero

I chose Aguero before last nights match (now Neymar looks quite an attractive prospect). Argentina should have plenty of chances to rack up goals in a group that includes Bosnia, Nigeria and Iran. Of course, there is another Argentine who is worth a look but I’m sticking with the Manchester City man.

England

I’m actually quite excited to see how England perform this year. For once we have some interesting, young players, rather than the usual suspects. I would go for a youthful, attacking line-up – with expectations relatively low, we may as well gamble.

Liverpool and Southampton both built impressive seasons on a core of English talent and England should try to use this. We should take our inspiration from the great Pochettino!

If Hodgson names a midfield of Milner, Lampard, Gerrard and Welbeck, I’ll scream!

Do you think Germany will win the tournament? Maybe you have Messi as top scorer? Let me know in the comments section below.

Discuss it with me on Twitter: @ABPSpurs