The second set of matches in the FIFA World Cup conclude on Monday and we begin in Group G where Cameroon go up against Serbia in what looks like being a tasty way to start the day with both teams needing to win.
Cameroon lost their opening match and have Brazil to round off their tournament so if they are going to have a chance of going through they have to win this. A draw would most likely keep Serbia in the competition but a win may well have them in control of their own destiny.
Where to watch
The match will be live and in full on the ITV 1 channel for everyone who is in the UK. The build-up to the game begins at 9am and then kick off is at 10am.
Cameroon
I think most people were unsure what to make of Cameroon heading into their opening match. They were not able to take advantage of home conditions in the Africa Cup of Nations at the beginning of the year and obviously this isn’t the easiest group they could have landed themselves in. There were positives to take from their performance against Switzerland. They created a number of chances which on their day one would have gone in, but there were concerns at the same time.
That concern is very clearly their defence. In fairness they probably have the best keeper in Africa between the sticks but those in front of him did not impress against Switzerland and in truth but for a late block they could have lost by more than the 1-0 score they did lose by. Switzerland had an xG of 1.93 against Cameroon so they are going to have to defend much better here, although given that they might need to take risks to win the match it might be a case of riding their luck.
Serbia
Serbia went into the tournament as the dark horses to win the whole thing for a number of judges. In fairness, I fancied them to run alright in the competition but it was hard to be impressed with their opening performance. You have to cut them a degree of slack before it was Brazil they were playing but if we are being critical they offered absolutely nothing as an attacking force and that was disappointing. Other than injuring Neymar they didn’t really do much at all.
I think it is fair to say we’ll see a better attacking approach from Serbia in this match. It sounds like Aleksandar Mitrovic is going to have a strike partner for this match but they will also need to be better defensively. This is a team who don’t keep a lot of clean sheets but the need to get something out of this game means that they could do with getting one. We probably shouldn’t judge their defence on the Brazil game but this is a team who conceded in both Nations League matches with Slovenia, in World Cup qualifying Azerbaijan and Ireland and in a friendly with Bahrain ahead of this tournament.
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Team News
Cameroon are going to be without Swansea City midfielder Olivier Ntcham for this match as he has been ruled out of this match and the next one with an unspecified injury. Eric Maxim Choupu-Moting looks set to lead the line again.
Dusan Vlahovic is likely to start this match alongside Aleksandar Mitrovic after the Juventus man came off the bench against Brazil. The status of Filip Kostic is less certain though but it would be a boost if he were available.
Betting
These 10am matches haven’t been the most high scoring that there have been in the tournament, although a lot of that is because the teams on show have been of lesser quality. I think it is fair to say that with the exception of Argentina, Serbia are the best team we’ve seen in these 10am matches and it probably wasn’t a fluke that the only game that has had more than two goals in it in this slot was the one which featured Argentina.
I think that trend will get bucked here because I’m not convinced by the defences on show here but the attacking units look decent enough. The draw doesn’t really do either of these teams much good so at some point in the game I’m expecting it to open up, much like we saw with the Canada vs Croatia match on Sunday. I do think Serbia have that extra bit of class but I saw nothing from them in the opener to suggest they’ll keep a clean sheet. That makes me think there is value in Serbia to win but both teams to score.
Tips
Back Serbia to win and both teams to score for a 2/10 stake at 4.33 with Bet365
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