Spain international forward Juan Mata said on Monday that he didn't see his own country among the favorites for the World Cup.

Spain is many people's favorites for the World Cup, which kicks off this week in South Africa. The reigning European Champions have an accessible group with Honduras, Switzerland and Chile, although their warm-up games have been disappointing with late goals needed to defeat South Korea and Saudi Arabia, but as the Valencia player pointed out, Spain is not the only country to be below their best in preparation.

England struggled to beat Japan 2-1, while Brazil was less than impressive against Zimbabwe, winning 3-0 against a side with very little football tradition.

"Independent of the warm-up games we are all playing, my favorites are Argentina, Brazil and England," said Mata in declarations published in sports paper Diario AS.

"They may be playing better or worse at the moment, but they are my three candidates, because of their squads, their coaches and because of the level of football they can play." he said.

Mata also considered the merits of reigning world champions Italy, who have also failed to hit top form in the run in to the competition.

"They drew with the Swiss and it seems they didn't play well, but Italy is a side that always improves in the major competitions. History tells us they are favorites and they are going to be there or thereabouts. You can say the same about France. They are experienced and they have very good players," said the Spaniard.