GROUP G

HERMAN GIBBS

GROUP G

Five-times champions Brazil and Serbia are primed to advance, although Cameroon and Switzerland will not go down without a fight.

BRAZIL

BRAZIL, the most successful country with five World Cup titles, will arrive in Qatar as the world’s No 1 ranked country. That will raise expectations among its population of 214 million people who will be dreaming of a sixth title. They will rank among the favourites. The star-studded Brazil team have had a superb sequence of wins in matches, stretching back to 2021. Half of the squad ply their trade in Europe’s top-flight leagues, and several players are in excellent form. Some of the squad’s stars include Neymar, Vinicius Junior and Fabinho, as well as two of the Premier League’s best goalkeepers in Alisson and Ederson.

SERBIA

SERBIA will fancy their chances of advancing from the group stages after defeating the highly rated Portugal in their qualifying group. The team’s attack will be spearheaded by one of the Premier League’s most in-form forwards Aleksandar Mitrovic (top right), as well as Juventus hotshot Dusan Vlahovic. The squad is brimming with confidence, and they believe the best is yet to come. They’re banking on extending their recent stellar form into the World Cup. At the 2018 World Cup, Serbia finished third in their group, winning one game. The technical staff felt they learned a few valuable lessons there, and hope to be far better prepared this time.

SWITZERLAND

SWITZERLAND had a good run in the qualifying to finish as Group C winners after commendable draws home and away against European Champions Italy. At last year’s European champs, Switzerland scored an upset win over France and then ran Spain close after losing the penalty shoot-out in the quarter-finals. Switzerland have made a habit of punching above its weight on the world stage. In Russia, Switzerland surprised by reaching the last-16 round and then were defeated by Sweden. In 2014, they caused a major upset by defeating the highly fancied Argentina in the first knockout round. They will have a dogfight with Serbia for the group’s runner-up slot behind Brazil.

CAMEROON

CAMEROON’S Indomitable Lions will be making an eighth appearance at a World Cup. Their Roger Milla-inspired team were the upstarts at Italia ‘90 where they miraculously beat defending champions Argentina, led by the great Diego Maradona. They reached the quarter-finals where they succumbed to Bobby Robson’s England in extra time. It was the first time in history that an African team reached the World Cup quarter-finals. They could spring a surprise or two again. They have topflight players with plenty of Uefa Champions League and Europa League experience under their belts, among them Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting of Bayern Munich, Karl Toko Ekambi of Lyon, Andre Onana of Ajax and Andre- Frank Zambo Anguissa of Naples.