World Cup 2022 Group G Team Previews
Brazil
Brazil will be amongst the favourites to win any World Cup, because they are the country that has had the most success in the tournament. Brazil have won the World Cup 5 times and have had multiple golden generations who have brought the esteemed trophy home. From 1958 to 1970, Brazil won 3 out of a possible 4 World Cup titles, with the likes of Pele, Garrincha, Carlos Alberto and many more. More than 30 years later, Brazil reached the final in the 1994, 1998, and 2002 World Cups. They won the trophy in 1994 and 2002 and were beaten in the 1998 World Cup. The Brazilian team of the time included some of the most influential players in the modern game such as Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Cafu, Kaka, and many more.
In the 2014 World Cup, which was hosted in Brazil, they reached a fourth place finish. They were on their way to the finals but had one of their most humiliating defeats when they lost 7-1 to Germany. In the 2018 World Cup, Brazil were placed with Switzerland, Serbia and Costa Rica in the group stage, and drew with Switzerland but won their other two games. They then beat Mexico comfortably in the round of the last 16 but were knocked out by Belgium in the quarterfinals.
This World Cup features a highly talented Brazilian team that has many footballers who play in top leagues across Europe. It will be a special World Cup for Neymar, who has scored 74 goals for his country, only three behind Pele's 77. Manager Tite can choose between the two top Premier League goalkeepers Alisson and Ederson to put in goal. In defence, there are veterans such as Thiado Silva, Dani Alves and Alex Sandro, as well as some younger players such as Eder Militao, Gabriel Magalhaes and Marquinhos. The midfield has some highly accomplished players such as Fabinho and Casemiro. In attack, Brazil have a wealth of options, including some experienced players such as Neymar, Gabriel Jesus, Richarlison, and Hulk. They also have a wealth of younger players such as Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior, Gabriel Martinelli, and many more.
Serbia
As Serbia, the nation has only qualified for two World Cups, both of which they crashed out in the group stage. Before, when they were a part of Yugoslavia, the team reached a fourth place finish on two separate occasions. Serbia’s first World Cup was in 2010. They were put in a group with Australia, Germany and Ghana, and despite the fact that they beat the favourites, Germany, they could not win any other games and ended at the bottom of the group. In the 2018 World Cup, they were grouped with Brazil, Switzerland and Costa Rica. Here they beat Costa Rica but lost their other two games, finishing the group stage in third place and failing to qualify for the knockout stage.
Serbia has two choices for goalkeepers: Predrag Rajkovic, who plays in Mallorca, and Marko Dmitrovic who plays in Sevilla. They have a few defensive options such as Nikola Milenkovic, who plays for Fiorentina, Stefan Mitrovic who plays for Getafe, and Miklos Veljkovic who plays for Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga. The Serbian captain, Dusan Tardic, is a key player in Ajax, and he can be played with Filip Kostic, Nemanja Gudelj, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic or Marko Grujic in midfield. Serbia has three strikers who can all pose a huge threat to the other teams in their group. Luka Jovic, Juventus breakout star Dusan Vlahovic, and Fulham's striking hero Aleksander Mitrovic, whose 43 goals last season helped them achieve promotion to the Premier League.
Switzerland
Switzerland has qualified for 11 different World Cups. Their greatest run came in 1954, when they reached the quarterfinals. They hosted that competition and reached the knockout round, but were knocked out in a World Cup record game, which ended 7-5 to their opponents Austria. That game was played at La Pontaise, Lausanne under a temperature of 40 °C, and it was perhaps the most thrilling game in the history of the World Cup. Switzerland opened the scoring and after 20 minutes they were 3-0 up. In the next 10 minutes, Austria equalised the scoring, and then in the final 15 minutes of the first half Austria scored two more goals and missed a penalty kick, and Switzerland scored one more goal. The two teams entered the second half 5-4 to Austria. Austrian forward Theodor Wagner scored his third goal in the 53rd minute, and then Swiss forward Josef Hugi scored his third on the hour mark. Austria scored one more goal in the 76th minute and the game finished 7-5.
In 2018, Switzerland managed to qualify from their group stage, which as mentioned above, consisted of Brazil, Serbia, and Costa Rica. The team were then knocked out by Sweden in the round of last 16. Two years later, the team played in the European Championships where they surprised the world with a win over World Cup winners France. They were 3-1 down and then in the last 10 minutes of regular time they scored 2 more goals. The match then went to penalties, and Kylian Mbappe missed, making Switzerland the winners of the round. They then played Spain in the following round, and the game went to penalties again but they did not win in that game.
There are a few top quality players in the Swiss squad, including goalkeeper Yann Sommer, defenders Nico Elvedi, Manuel Akanji, Silvan Widmer and Fabian Schar. Their midfield does not have many younger players, but they have a lot of experience with Xherdan Shaqiri, Granit Xgaka, Remo Freuler, and Denis Zakaria. In attack, they can use Haris Seferovic, Breel Embolo, and Mario Gavranovic.
Cameroon
Cameroon have qualified for the World Cup 7 times, though they only managed to reach the knockout stage once. In 1990, they had their best run when they won the group stage and then beat Colombia to reach the quarterfinals, where they were defeated by England.
Their last appearance in the World Cup came in 2014, with captain and all-time leading goal scorer Samuel Eto'o. They were put in Group A, with Brazil, Mexico and Croatia. It was an extremely tough group and unfortunately, Cameroon lost all of their games, managing to score only 1 goal in that competition in a 4-1 loss to Brazil. Since then, the team has managed a third place finish in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and a fourth place finish in the African Nations Championship in 2020. Cameroon does not have many younger players in their squad, but they do have a number of footballers who play in some of the top football leagues in the world. Their goalkeeper Andre Onana plays for Inter Milan in the Italian Serie A. Defenders Ambroise Oyongo and Jean-Charles Castelleto both play in the French Ligue 1. Martin Hongla and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa both are midfielders who play in the Serie A. In attack, Cameroon can field the Bayern Munich striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, or Young Boys striker Moumi Ngamaleu, next to their captain Vincent Aboubakar, who currently plays in the Saudi Arabian Pro League.
It’s All About Brazil but Other Teams Deserve a Bet
Brazil are definitely favourites to win this group, as they have been in the same group with Switzerland and Serbia in the previous World Cup, and in the same group as Cameroon in the World Cup before that, and won both group stages. Switzerland and Serbia both have talented players and the match between these teams will probably be the decider for which team will finish in second place. Based on their record in the World Cup, Cameroon does not look likely to finish in one of the top two places in the group. However, they did finish in 3rd and 4th place in two recent CAF tournaments, so maybe their experienced players will be able to take the second place finish from both of the European teams.
It seems a fairly safe bet that Brazil will advance top of the group, but of course, you can never be sure. You can bet on any of the teams to advance and also place bets on which stage of the tournament each will reach. Of course, you can also bet on the individual matches. In short, the 2022 World Cup is a bettor’s paradise.
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