World Cup Group A Preview: Will Brazil’s pride lead them to glory?

Mexico

Once again selected in the same group as the hosts, Mexico may well have been cursing their luck when the balls were drawn. Their qualification campaign was anything other than straightforward and needed to rely on a play-off against New Zealand just to get to the tournament – not something that would normally be expected of a nation who customarily make the finals.

Since winning the 2012 Olympics, the national team has failed thus far to kick on to bigger and better things, and the 2014 World Cup will be the first major chance to reverse that trend. However, whether they can even make it past the group stages in order to do so remains questionable.

Key Player – Javier Hernandez

It is one of English football’s greater injustices that Hernandez seems consigned to a place as second-choice at Manchester United, forever damned by the faint praise that his role of ‘supersub’ brings.

In reality, Hernandez is one of the country’s deadliest forwards – a constant buzzard winging its way around the opposition defence, his continually darting movement a lesson to all young strikers in how to engineer goalscoring chances without having to touch the ball.

For his country, he assumes a rightfully more prominent platform, having received the baton of talisman from Rafael Marquez in recent years. His record of 35 goals in 57 games for far from perfectly functioning Mexico side says plenty about Hernandez’s predatory efficiency.

Best Young Player – Gio dos Santos

The man once touted as the next Ronaldinho will, obviously, never live up to such billing, but he could well grow into being a talismanic figure for his national side if he finally fulfils his clear potential. Having spent spells across the continent since departing Catalunya in 2008, Dos Santos looks to have finally found a home inVillarreal, where his output is at last beginning to align to his actual talent.

Seven goals and three assists in 14 domestic games so far this term is a mighty improvement on his numbers in recent years, and if Dos Santos keeps such form up, he could well thrive within the chasms of space facilitated by the pacey, defence-stretching runs of Javier Hernandez in the summer.

Manager – Miguel Herrera

A veteran of Mexican club football, Herrera was appointed temporary coach of the national side following Victor Manuel Vucetich’s failure to achieve automatic qualification to the summer’s tournament.

Having conquered the challenge of defeating New Zealand, he has been granted a permanent stay, but with only a solitary Mexican league title to his name thus far, many will surely be questioning the pedigree of the 45-year-old in the run-up to Brazil 2014.

Cameroon

Another side who made the tournament through the play-off, Cameroon will surely count qualification from the group as a success of sorts. That said, such patronising assessments may well work in favour of the likes of Stephane Mbia, Jean Makoun,Alex Song and Samuel Eto’o, whose elite-level pedigree will stand them in good stead for an unlikely but very possible fortune-reversing ascent into the last 16.

Key player – Samuel Eto’o

Having come out of retirement once again to help ensure his country’s qualification, Eto’o will surely not recede into the background for the tournament proper. Inevitably, the Cameroonian forward is far from the player he was in his Barcelona pomp since joining the Premier League for an Indian summer this term, but he nonetheless injects the Chelsea frontline with energy and incision when selected, and certainly propagates the demeanour of a natural and grizzled leader.

Best Young Player – Vincent Aboubakar

L’Orient are threatening an unexpected push upon Ligue 1’s Champions League spots this season, and chief among the reasons for their clattering momentum is Aboubakar, a 21-year-old striker who has notched an impressive 10 goals in 18 outings thus far. Offering aerial presence, composed finishing and channel-running application, Aboubakar could well see himself on a few scoresheet in the summer, should he and Eto’o – two strikers used to playing up front alone – find a way to dovetail effectively.

Aboubakar’s placement for his 10 goals in Ligue 1

Manager – Volker Finke

A seasoned coach in the upper echelons of the German leagues, Finke took over the Cameroonian side in May and has since guided them to a competitive six-game unbeaten run, during which they have only conceded a solitary goal – and that in a 4-1 win against Tunisia.

It mat not be the biggest sample size to generalize from, but Cameroon’s form under Finke thus far stands them in very decent stead to offer themselves a fine chance of qualifying from a tough, but hardly impossible, World Cup group.

A Combined XI for Group A would go as follows:

Prediction

It’s hard not to look past the hosts to dominate at least the group stage, given the indisputable talent across their squad as well as the crackling excitement that will almost certainly prove infectious from supporters to staff and squad.

Croatia will remain the favourites to progress as runners-up but could well find themselves at an immediate disadvantage should they lose to Brazil in the opening fixture, which would leave them playing catch-up and ensure little margin for error in their following two fixtures.

Mexico’s recent form has not impressed though, and Cameroon lack the high-end, across-the-pitch pedigree that Croatia offer, and – barring the odd aberration – quality tends to shine through in the group stages.

To qualify: Brazil and Croatia.