Steve Foster
Well-known member
The second fixture in Group A sees Mexico v Cameron
Mexico are hurriedly trying to regroup after their worst ever World Cup qualifying campaign in which they used 47 players and four coaches.
The latter of those, Miguel Herrera, has relied heavily on domestic players and implemented an attack-minded 5-3-2 formation.
It's anyone's guess as to whether Mexico can rediscover the form of 2012, when they won 10 of 12 internationals plus Olympic gold.
Key player
The current Player of the Year for North and Central America and the Caribbean, Oribe Peralta , top scored with 10 goals in the qualifying campaign - half of them coming in the play-off against New Zealand.
The 30-year-old has seized his second chance since being recalled after a six-year absence in 2011. An unerring finisher, Peralta's 22 goals for Santos Laguna this season have earned him a move to Mexican giants America.
One to watch
Dynamic box-to-box midfielder Hector Herrera made headlines last summer when his transfer to Porto became the first major deal negotiated by Nicky Blair, the football agent son of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Herrera impressed with his energy and incisive passing as part of Mexico's Olympic gold medal-winning side in 2012. An injury to Juan Carlos Medina means he may be asked to sit deep.
The boss
Overlooked for the 1994 World Cup squad as a player, Miguel Herrera led Mexico to Brazil after being named as the nation's fourth coach in six weeks prior to the qualification play-off against New Zealand.
The squat, straight-talking 46-year-old got the job after winning a first Mexican league title
How they qualified
Mexico looked destined to miss out on the World Cup until the USA scored two stoppage-time goals to beat Panama, thus preventing them from finishing fourth and taking the play-off spot.
Mexico seized their lifeline, beating New Zealand 9-3 on aggregate to qualify.
World Cup record
This will be their 15th appearance - a tally bettered only by Argentina, Brazil, Germany and Italy.
Quarter-finalists on home soil in 1970 and 1986, they have bowed out at the last-16 stage in the last five tournaments.
Fifa ranking: 20
Squad
Goalkeepers: Jose de Jesus Corona (Cruz Azul), Guillermo Ochoa (Ajaccio), Alfredo Talavera (Toluca).
Defenders: Miguel Layun (America), Carlos Salcido (Tigres), Paul Aguilar (America), Andres Guardado (Bayer Leverkusen), Hector Moreno (Espanyol), Francisco Javier Rodriguez (America), Diego Reyes (Porto), Rafael Marquez (Leon).
Midfielders: Miguel Angel Ponce (Toluca), Jose Juan Vazquez (Leon), Luis Montes (Leon), Hector Herrera (Porto), Isaac Brizuela (Toluca), Marco Fabian (Cruz Azul), Carlos Pena (Leon).
Forwards: Oribe Peralta (Santos), Javier Hernandez (Manchester United), Giovani dos Santos (Villarreal), Raul Jimenez (America), Alan Pulido (Tigres).
CAMEROON
Prospects
It is a long time since the Indomitable Lions were the pride of African football.
They lost all three of their games at the 2010 World Cup and have since failed to qualify for the last two Africa Cup of Nations.
Underpinning this mediocrity is ongoing player friction and discontent with the running of Cameroon's football federation, which was briefly suspended by Fifa last July because of government interference.
An all-too-familiar dispute over bonuses has preceded this summer's World Cup, but few observers expect a squad top heavy with defensive-minded players to earn any performance-related pay
Key player
Samuel Eto'o is the captain and record goalscorer but he continues to be a divisive figure. He briefly retired from international duty last September in the wake of a dispute with coach Volker Finke, and and in the latest fallout with team-mates he then claimed there was a "plot" among them not to pass him the ball in the World Cup play-off against Tunisia.
Eto'o served a seven-match ban in 2011 for leading a players' boycott in a row over unpaid match fees. The Cameroon prime minister once had to persuade him to play in 2012.
Samuel Eto'o is playing in his fourth World Cup after 1998, 2002 and 2010
One to watch
Central defender Nicolas NKoulou is coveted by many of Europe's big clubs and financially-troubled Marseille are expected to sell him this summer, despite rejecting a €12m bid from Napoli in December.
The 24-year-old started all three of Cameroon's matches at the last World Cup and was voted in the French top flight's team of the year in 2012 and 2013.
The boss
A revolutionary of the German game in the 1990s with unfashionable Freiburg, fluent French speaker Volker Finke was appointed Cameroon's head coach midway through the qualifying campaign.
The 66-year-old former school teacher is a self-confessed student of African football.
How they qualified
They received a World Cup lifeline in June 2013 when Fifa awarded them a 3-0 win over Togo, who had fielded a suspended player. Cameroon had lost the match 2-0 but the ruling put them top of their group. They then beat Tunisia 4-1 in their play-off.
World Cup record
Brazil will be their seventh World Cup - an African record - but Cameroon have only won one match in four editions since reaching the quarter-finals in 1990.
The nadir came in 2010 when they lost all three group matches for the first time.
Fifa ranking: 56
So who do you think will win?
Mexico are hurriedly trying to regroup after their worst ever World Cup qualifying campaign in which they used 47 players and four coaches.
The latter of those, Miguel Herrera, has relied heavily on domestic players and implemented an attack-minded 5-3-2 formation.
It's anyone's guess as to whether Mexico can rediscover the form of 2012, when they won 10 of 12 internationals plus Olympic gold.
Key player
The current Player of the Year for North and Central America and the Caribbean, Oribe Peralta , top scored with 10 goals in the qualifying campaign - half of them coming in the play-off against New Zealand.
The 30-year-old has seized his second chance since being recalled after a six-year absence in 2011. An unerring finisher, Peralta's 22 goals for Santos Laguna this season have earned him a move to Mexican giants America.
One to watch
Dynamic box-to-box midfielder Hector Herrera made headlines last summer when his transfer to Porto became the first major deal negotiated by Nicky Blair, the football agent son of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Herrera impressed with his energy and incisive passing as part of Mexico's Olympic gold medal-winning side in 2012. An injury to Juan Carlos Medina means he may be asked to sit deep.
The boss
Overlooked for the 1994 World Cup squad as a player, Miguel Herrera led Mexico to Brazil after being named as the nation's fourth coach in six weeks prior to the qualification play-off against New Zealand.
The squat, straight-talking 46-year-old got the job after winning a first Mexican league title
How they qualified
Mexico looked destined to miss out on the World Cup until the USA scored two stoppage-time goals to beat Panama, thus preventing them from finishing fourth and taking the play-off spot.
Mexico seized their lifeline, beating New Zealand 9-3 on aggregate to qualify.
World Cup record
This will be their 15th appearance - a tally bettered only by Argentina, Brazil, Germany and Italy.
Quarter-finalists on home soil in 1970 and 1986, they have bowed out at the last-16 stage in the last five tournaments.
Fifa ranking: 20
Squad
Goalkeepers: Jose de Jesus Corona (Cruz Azul), Guillermo Ochoa (Ajaccio), Alfredo Talavera (Toluca).
Defenders: Miguel Layun (America), Carlos Salcido (Tigres), Paul Aguilar (America), Andres Guardado (Bayer Leverkusen), Hector Moreno (Espanyol), Francisco Javier Rodriguez (America), Diego Reyes (Porto), Rafael Marquez (Leon).
Midfielders: Miguel Angel Ponce (Toluca), Jose Juan Vazquez (Leon), Luis Montes (Leon), Hector Herrera (Porto), Isaac Brizuela (Toluca), Marco Fabian (Cruz Azul), Carlos Pena (Leon).
Forwards: Oribe Peralta (Santos), Javier Hernandez (Manchester United), Giovani dos Santos (Villarreal), Raul Jimenez (America), Alan Pulido (Tigres).
CAMEROON
Prospects
It is a long time since the Indomitable Lions were the pride of African football.
They lost all three of their games at the 2010 World Cup and have since failed to qualify for the last two Africa Cup of Nations.
Underpinning this mediocrity is ongoing player friction and discontent with the running of Cameroon's football federation, which was briefly suspended by Fifa last July because of government interference.
An all-too-familiar dispute over bonuses has preceded this summer's World Cup, but few observers expect a squad top heavy with defensive-minded players to earn any performance-related pay
Key player
Samuel Eto'o is the captain and record goalscorer but he continues to be a divisive figure. He briefly retired from international duty last September in the wake of a dispute with coach Volker Finke, and and in the latest fallout with team-mates he then claimed there was a "plot" among them not to pass him the ball in the World Cup play-off against Tunisia.
Eto'o served a seven-match ban in 2011 for leading a players' boycott in a row over unpaid match fees. The Cameroon prime minister once had to persuade him to play in 2012.
Samuel Eto'o is playing in his fourth World Cup after 1998, 2002 and 2010
One to watch
Central defender Nicolas NKoulou is coveted by many of Europe's big clubs and financially-troubled Marseille are expected to sell him this summer, despite rejecting a €12m bid from Napoli in December.
The 24-year-old started all three of Cameroon's matches at the last World Cup and was voted in the French top flight's team of the year in 2012 and 2013.
The boss
A revolutionary of the German game in the 1990s with unfashionable Freiburg, fluent French speaker Volker Finke was appointed Cameroon's head coach midway through the qualifying campaign.
The 66-year-old former school teacher is a self-confessed student of African football.
How they qualified
They received a World Cup lifeline in June 2013 when Fifa awarded them a 3-0 win over Togo, who had fielded a suspended player. Cameroon had lost the match 2-0 but the ruling put them top of their group. They then beat Tunisia 4-1 in their play-off.
World Cup record
Brazil will be their seventh World Cup - an African record - but Cameroon have only won one match in four editions since reaching the quarter-finals in 1990.
The nadir came in 2010 when they lost all three group matches for the first time.
Fifa ranking: 56
So who do you think will win?
