Stuttering Brazil will look to clinch its berth in the last 16 of the World Cup as it hosts already-eliminated Cameroon in its final Group ‘A’ match at the National Stadium in the capital Brasilia on Monday.
Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side has beaten Croatia and drawn with Mexico in the two games to date, struggling to convince in either match, but both the coach and his players have claimed in recent days that the World Cup hosts are “evolving’ as the tournament goes along.
Brazil heads into its final group game — its 100th at the World Cup — still not certain of a place in the knockout rounds, but goalkeeper Julio Cesar insisted during the week that the quality of opposition it has come up against so far has helped the Selecao.
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“This is a tough group, but that’s great for us. We prefer to play against these sides and face these difficulties because it gets you focusing right from the start, which is important in short-term competitions,” he said.
The pressure on Brazil to do well at these finals is enormous, but Scolari’s team need not panic about its situation in the group.
It leads the group on goal difference from Mexico, and a draw will be enough to take it through to a second-round clash with either Chile or the Netherlands.
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Indeed, it would still progress even in defeat, as long as Mexico beats Croatia in the group’s other game, due to be played at the same time in Recife.
In any case, the prospect of Brazil losing to a Cameroon side in complete disarray seems slim in the extreme.
Volker Finke’s men have already failed in their attempts to become the first Cameroon team to advance from their group since 1990, and their campaign has been beset by trouble since the very beginning.
A row over bonuses overshadowed their build-up to the finals, and they became one of the first teams to be eliminated after following up a 1-0 defeat to Mexico by losing 4-0 to Croatia in Manaus last Wednesday.
In disarray While Samuel Eto’o struggles due to a knee injury — he has not trained since the Mexico game — Finke saw Alex Song’s tournament come to a premature end after he was sent off for a needless elbow in the back of Mario Mandzukic against Croatia, before left-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto head-butted team-mate Benjamin Moukandjo on the pitch near the end of the game.
“We will need to talk to certain players. The behaviour of some of them was not at all satisfying. It’s unacceptable to see that kind of thing,” bemoaned coach Finke.
Of his team’s performances he said: “We have already analysed the first two games and worked well with the players. There have been some situations where we have lacked concentration and we also lacked a finishing touch against Croatia but we can do better against Brazil.”