Qatar 2022 World Cup: Analysis of Group G – Favourites and talents to watch out for

My Football Facts ⇒ Articles

By Martin Graham | 3rd Nov 2022

World Cup Group G is a fun group which consists of Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon. This is a group that features a team who is a World Cup favourites and three teams strong enough to earn a second round spot.

Who are the favorites?

The favorites spoken about previously are none other than Brazil. Ranked number one in the world, the Selecao are not only the favorites to win the group but favorites go all the way and win their sixth world title and first World Cup trophy since 2002.

Their recent experience in tournaments which saw them reach two straight Copa America finals (with one Copa America win as well), shows that the Selecao know what it takes to go deep in competitions and even win. This type of experience is invaluable and could potentially see them have a strong tournament.

Brazil will be great entertainers in this competition but the fun part of this group is the battle for the second qualifying spot.

Who can advance to the next round?

Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon make up the rest of the group and will lock horns to see who will become the best of the rest, as the case may be. Football is a sport that has seen the impossible become possible but it is unlikely that this Brazil team slip up at any point in the group stage. On the world ranking, 15 places separate Brazil from the next best country in the group, Switzerland, while there are 22 places between Switzerland (ranked 16th), Serbia (ranked 25th) and Cameroon (ranked 38th). It will be a much closer contest between the three.

Switzerland will fancy themselves as favorites between the three teams because of their superior rank and their strong record of failing to qualify for the last sixteen in only one of the four World Cups they’ve been qualified for in this century. Anything but a knockout stage qualification will seem like a failure to the Central European nation, enjoyed a fantastic qualifying campaign that saw them secure automatic qualification ahead of European Champions Italy. They picked up 18 points in qualifying and conceded only two goals, the joint lowest in European qualifying.

Elsewhere, Cameroon are still trying to catch lightning in a bottle and replicate the lofty heights of Italia 90 where they reached the quarterfinal stage of the prestigious tournament. Since then, the indomitable Lions have made it to the World Cup five more times, winning only one game, thus failing to get out their group. In a group where second place is up for grabs, Cameroon must seize the initiative and push for a spot in the round of 16.

Another team trying to make it to the next round is Serbia. A nation who were once giants in word football in the 20th century have not been able to advance to the knockout stages since the start id the 21st century. The final World Cup of the previous millennium (France 98) was the last time they qualified for the last 16.
Fans of The Eagles will have reason to be optimistic about a good run in the tournament this time around because of how well they did in qualifying. They secured an automatic trip to Qatar ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal, forcing them to go through the long route before qualifying. No small feat

Who are the best players?

We would have to look at Brazil as the nation with the best players but the truth is this group is filled with top quality players for each country.
They possess one the best players in world football today in Neymar and alongside awesome talents like Vinicius Junior, Raphinha, Richarlisom, Gabriel Jesus, Casemiro, Fabinho, Thiago Silva and Antony, to name a few. This team is stacked from top to bottom which shows why they have the confidence that they can win it all this year.

Far away in second place would be Serbia. The Europeans have in their ranks players who play for top clubs around the top five Eropean leagues like Dusan Tadic, Dusan Vlahovic, Sergej Milinkovic Savic, Alexa Terzic and Alexander Mitrovic. Their offensive firepower in particular stands out and will be good enough to go toe to toe with anyone.

Switzerland are a nation who have created a strong culture of togetherness forged by a group of players who have been through thick and thin and have played in multiple world cups. The younger players immediately buy into the culture because of the presence of their more experienced players and their run of World Cup appearances continue as a result. Players like Breel Embolo, Haris Seferovic, Xherdan Shaquiri, Emmanuel Akanji and Granit Xhaka have helped them attain success in recent times.

Like Serbia, Cameroon possess a very strong attack and their 15 goals scored in the seven games they played at the Africa Cup of Nations where they won bronze is evidence of this. Vincent Aboubakar and Karl Toko-Ekambi will play important roles again but talents like Andre Zambo Anguissa, and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting will have to be in form for their country as well.