By Akyereko Frimpong Manson
Follow Akyereko on Twitter: @AkyerekOfficial
African football legend Abedi Pele has picked 2014 World Cup host Brazil and Germany among favourites to win the tournament.
The South American giants have reached the second round of the competition after thrashing Cameroon in their final group game while Germany will define their fate with a last Group game against the United States on Thursday afternoon.
Brazil remain among the bookmakers favourites for the title while European trio Netherlands, France and Germany are also considered as potential title-winners.
However, Abedi has picked host Brazil and Germany as his favourites though he also mentioned Argentina, France and Italy to put in strong challenge for the title.
"Like I said, Germany are going to go a very long way and I also see Brazil, who are going to get even better yet, and because Neymar could be one of the big stars of this World Cup," he told Bundesliga.com.
The same goes for Argentina because I think Lionel Messi is getting better and better and he'll soon be back to his very best. And then there are Italy, France and the Netherlands who could challenge for the title. I get the feeling that anything could happen at this World Cup, and there are going to be quite a few more surprises yet."
Abedi's country, Ghana are also in the competition with his two sons - Jordan and Andre Ayew playing pivotal roles for the West Africans.