Brazil and Germany are the favorites to win the World Cup, Lothar Matthaus, the German trainer of Brazilian soccer team Atletico Paranaense, told Sunday's O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper.

"Brazil is favorite for obvious reasons and Germany is favorite because it is playing at home," Matthaus said, adding that "this Cup will not be easy even for the favorites. Many teams are well prepared and many have great players."

Matthaus has played in five World Cups, including the German team that won the 1990 World Cup in Italy, and has played in a record 25 World Cup matches, who took charge of Atletico two weeks ago.

"In recent World Cups the home team has almost always had a good performance. In 1990, 1998 and 2002, the host teams won a good place."

Matthaus said he did not believe that Jurgen Klinsmann's bad feelings would influence Germany's performance. Klinsmann is angry that Mattias Sammer was chosen to manage Germany's World Cup team instead of him.

Source: Xinhua