AS the teams got ready to travel to South Africa last week, there was some bad news on the injury front with England suffering a massive loss in the form of Rio Ferdinand, who injured a ligament in his knee in training.

This is a big blow to England to lose their captain like this, but I feel they have enough cover in their centre back to cope without him.

The Ivory Coast also suffered an injury with Didier Drogba fracturing his upper right arm in a collision with Japanese defender, Tulio, during last Friday’s friendly in Switzerland.

While Drogba has undergone surgery on his arm, the Ivory Coast’s FA has still not ruled him out of the tournament. If he doesn’t go, however, it will be a big blow to this African nation.

If you asked me to choose the best attacking teams in the tournament, I would have to go with Brazil and Spain. Brazil has KaKa, Robinho and Melo — who, in my opinion, make up the best attacking side in the tournament, as seen in Monday night’s 5-1 thrashing of Tanzania.

With Spain, you have David Silva and Jesus Navas who are excellent attacking midfield players. Both of Brazil and Spain’s attacking midfielders can score goals from anywhere on the pitch and I believe they pose the most threat in this tournament.

Other players who are good in attack are England’s Gerrard and Lampard; Argentina’s Tavez, Milito, Messi and Higuain; Portugal’s Ronaldo, who — as the most expensive player in the world — I believe will have a major impact on the tournament although, I fear his team won’t be able to back him up.

Brazil has Fabiano and Elano; and Spain has Villa. Cameroon and Holland have some of Inter Milan’s treble winning players although they also don’t have the teams to back them up.

There really is an abundance of attacking talent on show, so it is very difficult to select the best from such a large pool, but if I had to, in midfield I would go for Felipe Melo, Kaka with Messi and Gerrard as the starting quartet. David Silva and Frank Lampard would be the two in reserve.

Up front, my two form players are Ronaldo and Tevez so I would select them as the starting two. Drogba would have been in the running but for his injury. Although Ronaldo might not play as an out-and-out striker for his club, he can play that position and has done so on many occasions to great effect.

If Argentina can get on a run in the tournament, Tevez wouldn’t be a bad bet for the golden boot. David Villa and Torres from Spain would be more than adequate back-ups.

With the warm up games coming to a close, Portugal seems to be struggling and France lost to China which is a big blow. Holland, however won 6-1 and England won 3-0. I don’t see these warm up games as being too important though, but it is good to go into the tournament in winning form.

The countdown to the biggest football tournament in the world is really heating up now and, with only four days to go to the opening ceremony, my bags are packed and I arrive in South Africa on Wednesday morning.

John Barnes pre-tournament squad:

Goalkeeper: Casillas

Defence: Cole, Vidic, Lucio, Maicon

Midfield: Melo, Kaka, Gerard, Messi

Forward: Tevez, Ronaldo

Reserves: Buffon, Carvalho, Eboue, Silva, Lampard, Villa, Torres.