Pundit picks two surprise World Cup dark horses

Readers of Mediawatch will know that Stan Collymore is not afraid of having big opinions, but his World Cup predictions are particularly surprising.

Writing for the Daily Mirror, Collymore picked out Germany as his winners – no shock there.

But when asked for a dark horse to win the tournament, Collymore went particularly left field.

‘Poland are a nation who could cause an upset,’ he wrote. ‘

‘I was in Warsaw two weeks ago and there is very much a feeling that their squad is hungry with quality throughout.’

‘They have a superstar in Robert Lewandowski and a feeling that the group could be relatively straightforward.

‘If they get momentum out the group phase they could go a long, long way.’

Subsequently asked for a surprise package, Collymore opted for a South American team:

‘Don’t underestimate Peru. They have their captain and all-time leading goalscorer, Paolo Guerrero, back after his drugs ban was reduced and that in itself can galvanise a nation.

‘South American qualifying is very strong and, like Poland, the feeling is that if they can get out of the group they can grow along the way.

‘They play with a real attacking flair, work tremendously hard for each other, and have a nice balance between youth and experience.’