Brazil is still in good shape to make it to the next phase of the World Cup despite drawing with Mexico in their last match. To wrap up Group A, they will face Cameroon, who lost their minds against Croatia and almost saw teammates fight it out on the pitch. That isn’t a good sign going into a game where Brazil might have to run up the score.
World Cup Odds: Brazil -2.5 -120, Cameroon +2.5 EVEN, Draw
Why Cameroon Can Win
There aren’t many reasons to think Cameroon can win this match or even get a draw, especially if captain Samuel Eto’o is stuck on the bench because of a knee injury that kept him out of a 4-0 loss to Croatia. He witnessed a strange game in which Alex Song struck Mario Mandzukic for no reason and got a red card that will keep him out of the Brazil match, and then Benoit Assou-Ekotto headbutted teammate Benjamin Moukandjo late in the match, and he was lucky not to get sent off. It was a complete collapse by Cameroon, who will make their way home after this match.
Pride is the only thing Cameroon has going for it and we’ll see how much they have. A draw will be a win for them.
Why Brazil Can Win
Brazil should have two or three against Mexico, but keeper Guillermo Ochoa was absolutely incredible and his stop on Neymar will have Mexican fans talking about it for years. Their wealth of attacking talent is more than enough to run over Cameroon, even though they haven’t played to their full potential. Fred has been terrible outside of drawing a suspect penalty in the World Cup opener against Croatia, while Jo hasn’t looked great, either. Oscar was subdued against Mexico after starring in the opener, so he’ll be counted on in this match.
Brazil has left some opening at the back that is enough to cause concern, and Mexico definitely had a plan to test Julio Cesar from long range, so keep an eye on that. Cameroon probably doesn’t have the talent to do it, but stranger things have happened in the World Cup and a goal can be a huge boost in confidence, so Brazil is going to have to be stout defensively and not let Cameroon have a sniff of the game. They must be as ruthless as Croatia was.
Outlook
This will be the fifth meeting between Brazil and Cameroon, who lost the first three games, but they did beat the hosts 1-0 at the Confederations Cup in 2003. The odds are very much against Cameroon to get anything from this match and Brazil has to score because the goal difference in this group is very tied between the hosts, Croatia and Mexico. Brazil has to score early and if they do, this could end up being worst than the Croatia game was for Cameroon, who will go home embarrassed. This should get ugly.
Pick: Brazil
