It may seem some time away but the World Cup 2022 will be here before we know it and Group G will be well worth watching.
Not a ‘group of death’ but certainly one of the more balanced pools it would appear for it has paired together the world’s number two ranked international team in Brazil, Switzerland (14th), Serbia (25th) and everyone’s favourite underdog, Cameroon (38th).
While, let’s be honest, few expect anyone but Brazil to win the group, there could be plenty of World Cup highlights and the Serbia-Switzerland clash on December 2 could well determine who takes second spot and a place in the knockout stages.
I am edging towards the Swiss whom, let’s not forget, came within a whisker of reaching last summer’s Euro 2020 semi-finals – this after dumping world champions France out – and also, in Russia, where they held Brazil in the group stages four years ago.
Yet Brazil will always be among the favourites, as the SBOTOP World Cup betting odds show, and Selecao will have already qualified for over a year by the time they play their tournament opener against Serbia on November 24.
Both the Serbs and the Swiss followed a few days later and it wasn’t until March this year that Cameroon booked their place in the most dramatic of fashions as Africa’s representatives were determined.
On an unforgettable night, Algeria frustration was palpable until the 118th minute when, with a penalty shoot-out looming, the unmarked Touba headed home a Rachid Ghezzal corner, Andre Onana was finally beaten, and Algeria were seemingly in dreamland.
However, there was to be one final twist when, in the third minute of injury time, Karl Toko-Ekambi, stole in to give Cameroon an incredible away goals victory – agony for Algeria, ecstasy for the Lions.
In many ways, the nation managed by former player, Rigobert Song, has now achieved its minimum aim and success in the tournament would be a bonus.
In truth, in the play-off Cameroon were outplayed by Algeria for large spells yet here they are and they did come through a tough group which included Ivory Coast so cannot be underestimated.
All in all, Cameroon haven’t made it through the group stage since 1990 and will rely heavily on the goals of Vincent Aboubakar.
Serbia, also managed by another former player in Dragan Stojkovic, have attacking talent of their own in Dusan Tadic, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Luka Jovic, but kept just one clean sheet in their eight qualifiers and have under-performed at recent World Cups.
Switzerland, meanwhile, now under Murat Yakin, are solid but possibly over-reliant on Breel Embolo.
And so the focus is on Brazil and it is now two decades since the South Americans were the last non-European winner of a World Cup.
Going unbeaten through Conmebol qualifying is a fine achievement and, while there remain some concerns about the retrogressive instincts of Brazilian coaches at club level, Tite is more open-minded than most and an impressive boss.
However, a word of warning. The last World Cup and the thrilling quarter-final exit against Belgium in 2018 was a reminder of the dangers of depending too much on Neymar who has become such an enormous figure that teams he plays for always end up being centered on him, which, as the Belgians showed, can make them easy to stifle.
Only a few weeks ago, he netted two penalties in a 5-1 friendly thrashing of South Korea which took him to 73 goals, a record second only to Pele (77), and ahead of such geniuses as Ronaldo (62) and Romario (56). He is not regarded as highly as any of the three aforementioned though and that is unlikely to change without a World Cup so, at the age of 30, Qatar is Neymar’s golden opportunity.
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