We are now just a couple of days away from the first game of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Of course, there will be a splendid opening ceremony to enjoy first before the two teams of Qatar and Ecuador head out onto the field to contest the first game of the tournament.
In build-up to this huge global event, we have been previewing each of the eight groups that will make up the opening phase of the World Cup tournament. Today we hit Group G, which features one of the major World Cup favourites.
You can check out our previews for the six previous groups that we have covered ahead of the tournament by clicking on the link to the relevant group below.
And don’t forget to tune in tomorrow for our look at the final group, Group H!
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Our countdown now continues with a closer look at the four teams that will be looking to try and qualify from Group G.
Unlike other World Cup Finals in recent times, we didn’t really get a ‘group of death’ as we have had in others. But if there is one group that does look tougher than the others then this is most certainly it.
Brazil of course start as favourites for the tournament and also to win this group, but they have been drawn once again with Serbia, who they faced in the group stages of the 2018 World Cup Finals and a Switzerland team who have produced some very good results against top teams in recent years.
Both these two European teams will have. genuine belief that they can cause an upset against Brazil or at the very least, can secure passage through to the knockout phase from this group and that makes this group intriguing.
That’s not to leave out Cameroon, the Indomitable Lions have a fantastic World Cup pedigree, but I do feel their squad is a little lacking in quality compared to the other three teams in this group, which makes them big underdogs in this company.
Brazil’s Probable Best XI – (4-2-3-1) – Alisson (GK), Danilo (DR), Telles (DL), Marquinhos (DC), Thiago Silva (DC), Casemiro (MC), Fred (MC), Raphinha (AML), Vini Jr (AMR), Neymar (AMC), Jesus (AC)
Few teams can boast the depth of the current Brazilian squad and you could pick two World Cup winning teams from their squad of 26 and not use the same player twice. That’s astonishing depth and means that this squad is now the favourites to win the trophy on the 18th December.
First they’ll need to overcome a couple of tricky opponents in the face of Serbia and Switzerland in particular, with the European sides likely to be Brazil’s toughest test of the group stage. I do expect the Selecao to come through this though and finish the group with maximum points.
What is eye catching about this Brazil team is the number of goals they score with 26 goals in their last seven games and with an array of talented attackers, they should not have any problems scoring the goals they need to go deep in this tournament. Maybe even all the way to winners.
Serbia’s Probable Best XI – (3-5-2) – V.Milinkovic-Savic (GK), Babic (DC), Mitrovic.S (DC), Masovic (DC), Zivkovic (DMR), Kostic (DML), Tadic (MC), S.Milinkovic-Savic (MC), S.Lukic (MC), Vlahovic (AC), Mitrovic (AC)
Dragan Stojkovic has seen his team qualify for their second World Cup Finals in a row but once again they have been drawn with Brazil in the group stage. However, he will know it will be the games against Cameroon and Switzerland in particular that will define whether Serbia has a good World Cup or not.
In terms of talent, this Serbian team is not short of quality. The Milinkovic-Savic brothers are both very talented, while the likes of Kostic and Tadic are both creative and inventive in the final third, while few teams boast two goalscoring strikers of the calibre of Vlahovic and Mitrovic.
I think this Serbia team has the best chance of any to get to the second phase of the tournament and that game with Switzerland is going to be key to that, assuming that they cannot pull off a huge shock and get something against Brazil.
Switzerland’s Probable Best XI – (4-2-3-1) – Sommer (GK), Widmer (DR), Rodriguez (DL), Schar (DC), Akanji (DC), Xhaka (MC), Freuler (MC), Shaqiri (AMR), Sow (AMC), Embolo (AML), Seferovic (AC)
Switzerland have slowly transformed themselves into one of the most consistent European teams. They may not have the squad depth of teams like France, Spain, England or Germany, but they have picked up some very good results against very good teams in recent tournaments, including beating then holders Spain in their first game of the 2014 World Cup.
This team is blessed with some very talented players with Xhaka and Freuler giving them a firm base from midfield. Shaqiri is their main creatice talent with Embolo and Seferovic likely to be amongst the goals if they can find the net.
However it’s defensively where the Swiss shine and they are difficult to score goals against. It is certainly going to be interesting to see how they match up against Brazil and Serbia in the group stage and it may well be the result of the latter than decides which teams go through from this group.
Cameroon’s Probable Best XI – (3-4-3) – Onana (GK), Castelletto (DC), N’Koulou (DC), Ebosse (DC), Fai (DMR), Tolo (DML), Ntcham (MC), Mandjeck (MC), Mbueno (AML), Ngameli (AML), Aboubakar (AC)
Cameroon have given us some of the most famous World Cup moments over the years, few will forget their shock opening game win over Argentina at the 1990 World Cup Finals and their colourful fans and kits have brought a splash of the spectacular to previous tournaments.
However, this year could be a tough one for the Indomitable Lions as they face a very tough group and I feel that this Cameroon squad is nowhere near as strong as some of the teams that they have had for previous World Cup tournaments.
Against three good quality opponents, including the World Cup favourites, I think Cameroon will do well to sneak a point in this group and as such, I feel they may struggle to finish anywhere but bottom of the table here.
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