JUNE 21 — Nearly halfway through the World Cup — 32 of the tournament’s 64 games will have been played when the second round of group fixtures concludes on Sunday night/Monday morning — we’re no closer to knowing who will end up as winners.

If anything, in fact, we’re even further away, because none of the competing teams have so far been able to present a particularly convincing case.

The one certainty is that we’ll have new champions. In one of the biggest World Cup shocks for many years, current holders Spain have already been knocked out following successive defeats against the Netherlands and Chile, who have thereby secured their passage to the last 16.

Spain’s problems have been evident for at least a year, with their physical frailties and lack of flexibility more than obvious to anybody who saw their Confederations Cup final defeat at the hands of Brazil last summer.

To his discredit, however, Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque chose to ignore those warning signs, preferring to believe that the addition of Atletico Madrid striker Diego Costa would be sufficient to return his previously all-conquering team to their former glories. It wasn’t, and they have paid the price.

The favourites to displace Spain as world champions are Brazil, but the hosts were far from impressive in their opening two fixtures, labouring to a 3-1 victory over Croatia thanks to a hotly-disputed penalty and then drawing 0-0 with Mexico.

In particular, Brazil have many clear weaknesses in their attacking play, with striker Fred clearly below par but potential replacement Jo hardly any better. An over-reliance on one mesmeric but inconsistent player - Neymar - can only take them so far.

Fellow South Americans Argentina are also hotly fancied, and that’s no surprise when you consider they can call upon the unrivalled creative abilities of Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain and Angel Di Maria – any team containing that explosive quartet really should be making a serious bid for the title.

However, great players do not always make a great team and Argentina’s structure left a lot to be desired in their edgy 2-1 opening victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina. Coach Alejandro Sabella needs to find a formula to allow his star players to shine or their potential will be sadly wasted.

Despite their lesser status, the most impressive South American performances so far have been provided by Colombia and Chile, who have already booked their places in the knockout rounds with energetic, expansive and committed performances.

Of course, nobody would really expect either of them to go all the way, but that’s exactly what we said about Atletico Madrid during their ultimately triumphant La Liga campaign: occasionally, the unexpected can happen.

Of the European contingent, the most impressive performances to date have been provided by the Netherlands in their 5-1 dismantling of Spain and Germany as they walloped Portugal 4-0.

Again, though, there are caveats, with the Netherlands following up their victory over Spain by reminding us how shaky they can be defensively in a fabulously entertaining 3-2 victory over Australia – a game which could have easily gone either way and contained the goal of the tournament so far as Aussie star Tim Cahill thundered home a sumptuous left-footed volley.

As for Germany, it’s true to say they were extremely good value for their 4-0 win over Portugal as Bayern Munich striker Thomas Muller got up and running with a hat-trick.

However, it should not be overlooked that Portugal were simply dreadful – it’s enough to make you feel sorry for Cristiano Ronaldo that he has to carry such a poor team on his shoulders – and absolutely everything went in Germany’s favour.

Firstly, Germany started off by being awarded a generous penalty for the opening goal. Then they scored a header from a set-piece, while Portugal lost their striker (the admittedly rather average Hugo Almeida) through injury and were soon reduced to ten men through Pepe’s senseless headbutt on Muller. In short, if the Germans hadn’t won that game by a big margin there would have been something badly wrong with them, and few conclusions can be drawn from the game.

Elsewhere, Belgium did little to justify their pre-tournament status as fifth favourites as they laboured to a narrow win over Algeria, while Italy started off with a moderately impressive win over England before delivering a truly abject display to lose against Costa Rica.

Watch out, though, for France. After taking apart an aggressive but poor Honduras, Didier Deschamps’ team laid down a real marker by hammering Switzerland 5-2 last night, and they are real candidates to go a long way. With Paul Pogba and Raphael Varane, France possess two of the world’s best young players and they are playing with a vibrancy which has been lacking for many years.

And finally, a word for my home nation, England. Rubbish. (I said “a word”…there it is).

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.