Cameroon vs. Croatia, A Preview

With yesterday’s hard fought draw between hosts Brazil and Mexico, Group A has just fallen wide open, with any of the four teams still potentially able to qualify. This route is tougher for Croatia and Cameroon, both of whom lost their opening games, but it will give them that extra boost needed and we may well see a live wire of a match today when they clash.

While Croatia will be looking to redeem themselves after a large loss to Brazil, in a game featuring some questionable calls by the referee, Cameroon were narrowly defeated by Mexico and will be looking to notch up a win against the European opposition.
The teams are fairly well balanced, with the midfield being the strength on both sides. For Croatia, their last game exposed defensive frailties they will be looking to address, particularly in their man marking. The defense failed to work as a unit and that allowed the opposition forwards space to make their runs. This was particularly disturbing because of the large amount of experience in the Croatian back line, and the coach will undoubtedly have worked on that.

In midfield, Luka Modric was not able to make the impact he generally does, but he is still hands down their key player. With him heavily involved in all attacks, Croatia have a good chance to make a breakthrough. Recently transferred Ivan Rakitic was also impressive as an attacking threat. The return of Mario Mandzukic from suspension will give the team that bit of extra penetration up front that they lacked before, and I think Croatia have to be considered favorites for this game.

The Cameroon team meanwhile slumped to a defeat against Mexico, and they will be looking to give a better accounting of themselves this game. Though the final scoreline of 1-0 rather flatters the Cameroon team, they looked disjointed and were totally outplayed for large portions of the game. Their backline was sloppy, and the Mexicans, especially dos Santos, were able to find and exploit spaces at will. The coach will have to pull something special out of the bag to prevent a demolition against Croatia.

With experienced campaigners like Benoit Assou-Ekotto and midfield dynamo Alex Song in their ranks, they definitely have the potential to do better, but it feels like the Cameroon team are out of their depth here. To win today, they need both their defense and midfield to turn out a performance of the highest quality, and get the ball up front more often. The Cameroon forwards were hopelessly isolated up front in the last game, and this meant star man and captain Samuel Eto’o hardly got a touch on the ball. Bringing him into the game will be crucial if Cameroon want to pose a real attacking threat. This is assuming that he recovers from a knee injury he picked up, or else this could well be the end of the road for Cameroon.

As to the teams, both coaches should field similar squads to last time. Mario Mandzukic will be a major addition to the Croatian team, but the rest of the squad should remain unchanged. Cameroon might shake things up at the back, but the last game featured their best playing XI and they will not change too much. The game will definitely provide some entertainment, with qualification on the line, and both teams will push hard for a shot at the biggest prize of them all.