Group G World Cup Update 3

We find ourselves with 2 Europeans, 1 South American and 1 African in Group G of the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Brazil will start their dream facing a dangerous Serbia, a talented Switzerland and a very physical Cameroon.

Update

Brazil

It was difficult for Brazil at first, but later they showed that they are one of the main candidates for the title. The ‘Verdeamarelha’ wiped Serbia off the map and beat them 2-0 with a double from Richarlison, the second with a great bicycle kick, and began their path to their sixth star. Tite’s team presented their arguments and showed they are on another level, although they lost Neymar and Danilo for the remainder of the group stage due to the fouls received. The PSG player was seen leaving with his ankle quite swollen after receiving 9 fouls. Now they will play against Switzerland, another good rival.

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Brazil became the second team to qualify for the round of 16 after their 1-0 win over Switzerland. The South Americans had a hard time without Neymar, who is injured, and could only score thanks to a great goal from Casemiro in the 83rd minute. The Europeans, although they did not complicate the Brazilians so much, did keep them at bay and did not make it easy for them. Now with 6 points, they will look to secure first place in the last game versus Cameroon.

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Brazil took advantage of the fact that they were qualified and rested most of their players against Cameroon, although it was not a good result as they lost 1-0 and lost their streak. However, the team managed to keep first place and will now face South Korea in the round of 16. The good news for the South Americans is that Neymar is back against the Asians.

Serbia

Serbia had to debut against the most difficult rival and could do little. Despite having a great lead, they failed to take any shots on goal and were characterized above all by their strong play, making 12 fouls and receiving 3 yellow cards. Now those led by Dragan Stojkovic will face Cameroon with the obligation to win to stay alive in this World Cup, and they will surely change their scheme and play with two leading men, probably Mitrovic and Vlahovic.

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Serbia was achieving a great victory that put them a little closer to qualifying but they let Cameroon come back and finally equalized 3-3 in a terrible result for both. The Serbs started losing but in stoppage time in the first half, they turned the score around in a couple of minutes with goals from Strahinja Pavlovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. Then, at the beginning of the second half, Aleksandar Mitrovic made it 3-1 on the scoreboard and it seemed that it was done, but a couple of oversights at 63 and 66 minutes gave the Africans 2 goals and the Europeans didn’t know how to react. Now they only have 1 point and they have to beat Switzerland and hope Cameroon doesn’t do the same against Brazil.

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One of the surprises, but for its elimination, was Serbia. Despite having a great team, with top scorers like Mitrovic, Vlajovich, or Jovic, the Serbian team was eliminated after losing this Friday against Switzerland 3-2. The Achilles heel of the Balkan team was their defense, conceding 8 goals in 3 games, which not only cost them elimination but also finished bottom of the group with only 1 point. Something also worth noting is that they did not know how to maintain results, because against Cameroon they were winning 3-1 and tied 3-3, while against Switzerland they were 2-1 and lost 2-3.

Switzerland

A solitary Breel Embolo goal gave Switzerland a 1-0 win over Cameroon. Even Embolo became the first player in World Cup history to score against his country of origin since he was born in Cameroon. Regarding football, it was a fairly even match, where both teams had their chances, but the Europeans struck first and managed to take 3 very important points since Brazil is expected to advance first and the others will fight for second place. Now against the ‘Verdeamarelha’ getting a draw is a good result, but surprises have already been seen.

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Switzerland tried and was very close to achieving it, but finally lost 1-0 to Brazil, although they were very well positioned. The Europeans played a correct game, thinking more defensively than offensively, but in the end, Casemiro unlocked the game. Now, with 3 points, they depend on themselves to advance to the round of 16. They are worth a draw against Serbia to get into the next round, and 4 years ago, also in the group stage of Russia 2018, they won 2-1 with goals from Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri and celebrated with the controversial eagle of Albania.

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Switzerland managed to get into the round of 16 for the third consecutive World Cup after defeating Serbia 3-2 in a great match. Breel Embolo has been the team’s top scorer, scoring 2 goals, and only against Brazil they failed to score. Precisely against the South American team, despite the 1-0 defeat, they played a very good match, controlling their rival and showing that they are going to fight everyone equally. Now they will play against Portugal in one of the good matches of the round of 16.

Cameroon

Cameroon played a good game with Switzerland but lost 1-0 with a goal from a Cameroonian son, Breel Embolo. The African team lacked effectiveness since they finished off 5 times on goal (more than the Swiss), but they could not overcome the resistance of Yann Sommer. Rigobert Song’s team knows that it has the necessary tools and power to fight for second place, but it knows that there can be no more setbacks or they will be eliminated.

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Vincent Aboubakar is Cameroon’s new hero. The striker came on after 55 minutes when his National Team was down 3-1, and at minute 63 he made it 3-2 with a great vaseline at minute 66 he assisted Choupo-Moting for the final 3-3, which gave Cameroon their first point and the possibility of fighting for their classification on the last game, although it will be very difficult since they have to beat Brazil and hope for a draw between Serbia and Switzerland. The Africans alternated good times with bad moments this Monday, and the goals can be considered to have come from isolated plays, since the first, by Jean-Charles Castelletto, was after a corner kick, and the other two were thanks to two very long passes well filtered through the Serbian defense.

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Cameroon bid farewell to Qatar 2022 with a win over Brazil thanks to a late goal from their hero, Vincent Aboubakar. The African team was very close to advancing to the round of 16 but needed a draw in the match between Serbia and Switzerland. In the end, they are satisfied with what they have achieved. However, there remains the disappointment of being able to have a little more in the previous games.

Classifieds

Brazil fulfilled the forecast and qualified after two games and also achieved first place, while Switzerland finally beat Serbia to second place in the last match and dreams of reaching the quarterfinals after almost 70 years. Cameroon came close behind in third place while Serbia were the disappointment to come last.

World Cup Group G: Brazil

The great candidate in this World Cup is Brazil. Despite losing the recent Copa América to Argentina (1-0), Tité’s team has a luxury list of players and is playing great football. So luxurious that they had to leave out Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and Gabigol. The fans are not complaining, they are lamenting that they cannot go. 

Commanded by Neymar, the Canarinha also has players, most of them young, who are at a very high level, such as Vinicius (Real Madrid), Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal), Gabriel Jesús (Arsenal) or Bruno Guimaraes (Newcastle). Likewise, the experience of Thiago Silva (Chelsea), Marquinhos (Paris Saint Germain), Casemiro (Manchester United), Fabinho (Liverpool) and Dani Alves (Pumas) on the defensive end will give the team a great balance. Precisely that defeat against Argentina was the last suffered by the Verdeamarelha and the only one in the last 29 games, where they have achieved 24 wins. Great numbers for a great team, whose last World title was in 2002, and hopes that in 2022 this drought will finally end.

Goalkeepers: Alisson, Ederson, Weverton.

Defenders: Dani Alves, Danilo, Alex Sandro, Alex Telles, Bremer, Eder Militao, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva.

Midfielders: Bruno Guimaraes, Casemiro, Everton Ribeiro, Fabinho, Fred, Lucas Paqueta.

Attackers: Antony, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, Neymar, Pedro, Raphinha, Richarlison, Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior.

World Cup Group G: Serbia

Serbia may suddenly be the team with the most attacking power in the entire World Cup. Aleksandar Mitrovic (Fulham), Duhan Vlahovic (Juventus) and Luka Jovic (Fiorentina) are three great scorers who have the Balkan country dreaming. 

In addition to these forwards, the team has highly talented players such as Dusan Tadic (Ajax), Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Lazio), Filip Kostic (Juventus) or Marko Grujic (Porto), and a very well-defended goal with three great goalkeepers like Marko Dmitrovic (Sevilla), Predrag Rajkovic (Mallorca) and Vanja Milinkovic-Savic (Torino). They come from winning their group in the UEFA Nations League, leaving Norway, Sweden and Slovenia on the way, and ascending to League A. 5 games undefeated where they got 4 wins, in addition to only 3 losses in their last 23 games speak by itself. 

Since they are only named Serbia, they have gone to the World Cups in South Africa 2010 and Russia 2018, and in both they were eliminated in the first round. Now they want to change history.

Goalkeepers: Marko Dmitrovic, Predrag Rajkovic, Vanja Milinkovic-Savic

Defenders: Stefan Mitrovic, Nikola Milenkovic, Strahinja Pavlovic, Milos Veljkovic, Filip Mladenovic, Strahinja Erakovic, Srdjan Babic

Midfielders: Nemanja Gudelj, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Sasa Lukic, Marko Grujic, Filip Kostic, Uros Racic, Nemanja Maksimovic, Ivan Ilic, Andrija Zivkovic, Darko Lazovic

Forwards: Dusan Tadic, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Dusan Vlahovic, Filip Djuricic, Luka Jovic, Nemanja Radonjic

World Cup Group G: Switzerland 

The Swiss reach their fifth consecutive World Cup, where in three of them they have qualified for the round of 16, but they have not been able to advance further, and they dream of doing so this time. They have already surprised by beating Portugal (1-0), Spain (1-2) and the Czech Republic (2-1) in the last three games of the UEFA Nations League, showing that they have enough arguments to fight in the World Cup. 

In the call list, the biggest surprise is that 4 goalkeepers were called, although it is believed that Yann Sommer will continue as a starter. The young Fabian Rieder (Young Boys – 20 years old), who has not yet debuted in the National Team and is being watched by the best teams in Europe, was also called. 

Several of those who were in Russia 2018 repeat the call, and they are the main players, such as Manuel Akanji (Manchester City), Breel Embolo (Monaco), Denis Zakaria (Chelsea), Ricardo Rodríguez (Torino), Fabian Schar (Newcastle), Haris Seferovic (Galatasaray), Xherdan Shaqiri (Chicago Fire) or Granit Xhaka (Arsenal), who are at a high level with their clubs. They are joined by new players such as Noah Okafor (Red Bull Salzburg) or Eray Comert (Valencia), who are performing very well and will surely lend a hand.

Goalkeepers: Gregor Kobel, Yann Sommer, Jonas Omlin, Philipp Kohn

Defenders: Manuel Akanji, Eray Comert, Nico Elvedi, Fabian Schar, Silvan Widmer, Ricardo Rodriguez, Edimilson Fernandes

Midfielders: Michel Aebischer, Xherdan Shaqiri, Renato Steffen, Granit Xhaka, Denis Zakaria, Fabian Frei, Remo Freuler, Noah Okafor, Fabian Rieder, Ardon Jashari

Forwards: Breel Embolo, Ruben Vargas, Djibril Sow, Haris Seferovic, Christian Fassnacht

World Cup Group G: Cameroon

Cameroon returns to a World Cup after his absence in Russia 2018 and will be their eighth to play, managing only in Italy 90 to pass the group stage, being eliminated in the quarterfinals. They have 7 losses in a row in World Cups, so they hope this time to end that streak and advance to the next round. 

The ‘Indomitable Lions’ have a very good team with great players in all their lines. André Onana is Inter Milan’s starting goalkeeper; defenders Enzo Ebosse and Christopher Wooh are having a great season at Udinese and Stade Rennais, respectively; midfielder Frank Anguissa has just renewed his contract with Napoli; and striker Eric Choupo-Moting has 10 goals and 3 assists in his last 9 games for Bayern München. Also, the experience of players like Vincent Aboubakar (Al-Nassr) and Karl Toko Ekambi (Lyon) will be very important. 

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To get to this event they had to beat Ivory Coast in the last game of the group stage, and they did it 1-0 with a goal from Toko, and then in the playoff they lost 0-1 to Algeria in the first leg and in the return leg they won 1-2 with a goal from Toko Ekambi himself at 120+4 to qualify thanks to the number of goals scored as a visitor. 

Already the president of the Cameroonian soccer federation, the historic Samuel Eto’o, said that they are going to Qatar to be champions, and that is the dream.

Goalkeepers: Andre Onana, Devis Epassy, Simon Ngapandouetnbu

Defenders: Jean-Charles Castelletto, Enzo Ebosse, Collins Fai, Olivier Mbaizo, Nouhou Tolo, Nicolas Nkoulou, Christopher Wooh

Midfielders: Olivier Ntcham, Gael Ondoua, Martin Hongla, Pierre Kunde, Samuel Oum Gouet, Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, Jerome Ngom

Forwards: Nicolas Ngamaleu, Christian Bassogog, Bryan Mbeumo, Georges-Kevin Nkoudou, Jean-Pierre Nsame, Vincent Aboubakar, Karl Toko-Ekambi, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Souaibou Marou

Classifieds

There is no doubt that Brazil is the candidate for the title and therefore will advance to the round of 16. However, the fight for second place is very even, but we believe that Serbia will keep that spot thanks to their great offensive power.

• Thurs, Nov. 24 Switzerland vs. Cameroon 5 a.m.
• Thurs, Nov. 24 Brazil vs. Serbia 2 p.m.
• Mon, Nov. 28 Cameroon vs. Serbia 5 a.m.
• Mon, Nov. 28 Brazil vs. Switzerland 11 a.m.
• Fri, Dec. 2 Cameroon vs. Brazil 2 p.m.
• Fri, Dec. 2 Serbia vs. Switzerland 2 p.m.