Live

Repeat: OTB Breakfast

05:00 AM-07:00 AM

Repeat: OTB Breakfast
Advertisement
Soccer

“You’re trying to keep your eyes open, not to be naive” | Nevin World Cup Preview

Former Chelsea and Everton footballer Pat Nevin joined Joe Molloy on The Football Show this eveni...



“You’re trying to keep your ey...
Soccer

“You’re trying to keep your eyes open, not to be naive” | Nevin World Cup Preview

Former Chelsea and Everton footballer Pat Nevin joined Joe Molloy on The Football Show this evening, previewing the World Cup and giving his prediction for the tournament’s winner.

“You’re trying to keep your eyes open, not to be naive” Pat Nevin said on Off The Ball tonight,  marking out his stall on his opinion of the World Cup kicking off in Qatar this week.

Expecting to attend 14 games at this year’s edition of the quadrennial tournament, the former Chelsea and Everton footballer explained how the condensed Premier League season may impact player’s fitness levels, what hopes the “smaller” nations have of progression and also who his tips are to triumph and lift the illustrious trophy, but not before touching on the human rights aspects circulating the football.

“I’m going but I certainly didn’t think at any point that it should take place there. What you have to do is just shine a light as much as you can” he said.

“They’ve spent huge, gigantic billions on this to have their country on the map and to be seen in a positive light, well it hasn’t worked has it?”

“It’ll be intriguing to see where it goes from here because we might just be at the start of all of this” he continued.

Football fans must keep their eye out for similar and continued misgivings according to Nevin, who made the point that “nation states tend to own football clubs now, particularly in England.”

“Where else can it go from there? Is this another power push? We don’t know where the next one is going to come from, especially because I don’t think a lot of people saw this one coming 10-15 years ago.”

Predictions

On the football side of things then Nevin leaned towards some of the “usual suspects” in Brazil, Argentina and Belgium, before throwing his highest anticipation toward France.

“I keep on coming back to them. Like everyone else they’ve got plenty of missing too, but there’s enough strength and depth there and they’ve got the firepower upfront.

“When you get knackered players oddly you get high scoring games. Maybe that will be the only upside to having this world cup when it is and where it is” Nevin concluded.

Football on Off The Ball brought to you by Sky. All the football you love in one place across Sky Sports, BT Sport & Premier Sports.

Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!

Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.


Read more about

Arfe France Joe Molloy Pat Nevin Premier League The Football Show World Cup Preview