England & Arsenal legend predicts 2023 FIFA World Cup winners, amid bold Sarina Wiegman claim

Former England and Arsenal forward Rachel Yankey believes the 2023 FIFA World Cup is one of the most open of all time.

The Lionesses have been hampered by injuries to Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Fran Kirby but will head into Saturday's Group D opener against Haiti as one of the favourites to win the competition, however, the former Gunners favourite admits the tournament is almost too close to call.

“It’s a really open tournament because of injuries. So many teams have lost so many key players" said Yankey.

"I think it’s the team that can have the best spirit on their off days when they’re not playing their best matches, and they can come together and go through the tournament without picking up more injuries. 

“These things are really important because I think you could look at Spain, France, America, England, Germany who all have the possibility of winning it. However, if I had to pick a winner, because of mentality and confidence, I don’t think you can ever write off the USA" added the 43-year-old, who gained 143 caps during her illustrious career.

Yankey also pinpointed one hotshot American forward amongst the player she believes will shine at the tournament.

“Sophia Smith for the USA is one who I’m excited to watch, just to see what she’s got. There is a lot of talk around her, I think she’s going to be a key player for America if they’re to do well" she said on the 22-year-old US striker.

“A player that I used to play with, Asisat Oshoala for Nigeria, I think can cause so many upsets. I think in terms of playing against her, it would be really really difficult. A key player for England I think will be Georgia Stanway, in terms of how she drives that midfield. England at the moment don’t seem to be scoring goals in their warm-up games, and I think you need a player that can change the momentum of the game and so I think she’ll be a key player" she told Betway.

Despite her belief that Megan Rapinoe and the US may have the slight edge over their competitors, she believes in Sarina Wiegman that England has one of the world's best coaches in the world and that the Dutch head coach could well transcend to the men's game - if she wanted to.

“I think that would depend on the team, the philosophy and whatever coach they wanted to bring in. Obviously I think when you win the Euros twice with two different teams, it makes you a leading candidate in your own right for whatever job, whether that’s men's football or women’s football, but I think the team would have to be right for whatever she wants to do" she said.

"The opportunity and the project would have to be the right one for her, but if you’re a winning manager, surely people want successful winning managers.

“The way I look at it is, to become a coach you need to pass a qualification, where you start at the bottom with your licence, your B-licence, your A-license and your pro-license. There isn’t that for men and women, it’s the same thing. So, she has the best qualifications to be a football manager, so she can manage anyone.

"You don’t look at school teachers and go ‘that school teacher has a certain qualification, so they can’t teach my son, but they can teach my daughter’. So, in the way I look at it is, she has the highest qualification and is obviously good at her job because of what she has won, so if that is enticing to any team in terms of whether they would want to recruit a manager of her calibre, then get in talks, negotiate, and see what happens.I don’t think there is any difference between whether a player is male or female, it really doesn't matter. 

“Coaching is all about teaching and how you relate to people and how you give them the confidence in how to play as well as the tactical knowledge her and her staff has. So to me, it doesn’t matter about men or women" said Yankee.

England will face Haiti this Saturday in Brisbane, Australia with kick-off scheduled for 10:30am BST time.