Group A Projected finish
Brazil should be expected to finish as group winners with something to spare, with Mexico filling the role of runner-up. Croatia and Cameroon, meanwhile, face the prospect of an early exit.
Team-by-team
Brazil: The Confederations Cup victory placed the hosts as favourites for the real deal in 2014. Scolari will attempt to become the second coach to win two World Cups. Only Vittorio Pozzo, with Italy in 1934 and 1938, managed that feat. There is little point in looking beyond Neymar as the expected star, though he has a fine supporting cast. One weakness may be the lack of a striker in the finest traditions of Careca or Ronaldo, but expect Brazil to breeze through this group. Beyond that, they must win a sixth title on home soil. Or else.
Mexico: Just like last time, they are drawn in the same group as the host. Brazil clearly represent a far greater challenge than South Africa did. Mexico almost missed out on their habitual place in the finals during a ruinous qualifying campaign and had to rely on a playoff with New Zealand to make it. Mexican football looked on the rise when they won the Olympic final at Wembley in 2012, beating a Brazil team made up of many of the expected squad for the finals. Getting past the last 16 is, as ever, their goal.
Croatia: They needed a playoff to get to Brazil and were the bad guys in holding off the romantics' choice of Iceland. For such a young nation, they are experienced campaigners in this competition, though only the fervent patriot would suggest they have the strength to match the third place they reached in 1998. The absence of star Mario Mandzukic with a probable two-game suspension may prove costly, but they still have the skills of midfielder Luka Modric to call on. Former captain Niko Kovac replaced Igor Stimac but is perhaps the least-experienced coach in the tournament.
Cameroon: The Indomitable Lions no longer live up to their name. And in their seventh World Cup, they are no longer the wild cards they were in 1990, when they announced Africa's challenge on the world stage. They will need to improve on their hugely disappointing performance in South Africa, where they were the first team to exit. The star remains Samuel Eto'o, back after a very public fallout with the Cameroon authorities that was resolved only when the government stepped in. Eto'o is not the player he was, and neither are Cameroon as enticing a prospect.
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