Pele fears club coming before country

Pele fears players in this year's World Cup are putting clubs before countries.

He says many of the players are so tied to their clubs by lucrative contracts that they no longer perform 100% for their countries.

Pele told World Soccer magazine said: "Many of the players are frightened of getting injured because that would upset their club coach and that, in turn, would have given the club's directors an excuse to stop them going off to play for their country again.

"It's more difficult for the Latin American countries because, if they wanted their best players, they had to send to Europe for them.''

Pele believes that France, Argentina, Italy and England will be major forces in the competition, ahead of Brazil.

"I am certainly not writing off Brazil," said Pele.