World Cup 2014: Group A Review

Date: 24th June 2014 at 10:36am
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Brazil finished on top, Neymar wowed the locals with his individual brilliance and Mexico edged out Croatia for the final knockout place; Unlike the rest of World Cup 2014 Group A ultimately provided few surprises, although along the way fans were teased into believing a shock was on the cards in almost all of the six matches without ever coming to fruition.

As the only match on opening night all eyes were on the Selecao when they took on Croatia on June 12, and for a moment looked as though they were about to collapse under expectations of a nation, when defender Marcelo steered a cross into his own net to a leave a huge mental challenge to conquer than goal deficit to claw back.

With a disciplined Vatreni seemingly holding firm and nearly going further ahead Neymar stepped up to inspire Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side to victory and prove that he, like Argentinean club colleague Lionel Messi or Luis Suarez of rivals Uruguay, is deserving of his star status and can provide the crucial difference between success at failure this summer.

However, although the 22-year-olds two-goal performance clinched the points, the Selecao were afforded a questionable penalty decision that ultimately led to the Europeans defeat and probably elimination.

With Cameroon arriving at the tournament once again arguing over financial rewards they were always seen as the weakest of the quartet and rightly ended bottom of the pile, however, against Mexico with their own uncertainties from stumbling through qualification, nearly snatched a draw.

Unfortunately, despite a spirited display, the Indomitable Lions fell to a solitary Oribe Peralta strike to present an uphill battle to progress and, in truth, were saved a bigger loss as Giovanni dos Santos saw two goals incorrectly ruled out for offside.

While El Tri somewhat laboured to that victory when the met Brazil next in Fortaleza they gave the first indications of a defensive resilience that could finally see them progress beyond the Second Round for the first time since 1986, goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa inspired in shutting out the Selecao, but after failing to snatch victory could not leave the final matches on a finer knife-edge.

Cameroon midfielder Alex SongWith the Cameroonian confidence dented by the narrow loss to Miguel Herrera’s team they imploded against Croatia, conceding four goals, seeing the experienced Alex Song dismissed after hitting out at Mario Mandzukic and elimination ended with defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto landing a head-butt on a teammate.

Therefore, going into the final round of matches Brazil new that even defeat, as long as not by more than two goals would seal progress, and began with the pressure visibly lifted from their shoulders to record a comfortable victory, however, qualification was not without its anxieties.

Once taking the lead many expected the floodgates to open, but with the Africans seemingly lifted by elimination, played with a greater intensity and positivity than previously and surprised everyone by equalising through Joel Matip.

Within 10 minutes though Neymar responded to edge them ahead once more and from that moment on never looked like relinquishing the lead.

In the groups other fixture Mexico, knowing that a draw would be enough, were intent on relying once more on the defensive resilience that had yielded four points from six and frustrated Croatia, whose failure to impose their vast creative quality was the biggest disappointment of the group stages, El Tri finally imposing themselves with 20 minutes remaining.

A short spell of unrelenting pressure, for which they should have been awarded a penalty after a Darijo Srna handball, the cornerstone of their defensive wall Rafael Marquez rose to head home a corner and where quickly three goals ahead as Niko Kovac’s players collapsed.

Suddenly, a finally but crucial shock was insight, as a one goal swing in El Tri’s favour would have seen them top Group A and face Chile instead of top scoring Netherlands, but within minutes of Javier Hernandez’ header making it 3-0 Fernandinho grabbed a fourth for Brazil.

Whether that will benefit the hosts remains to be seen, Scolari admitting that he did not want to face their fellow South Americans in the next round.

Reiterating his surprise at their qualification from Group B you got the feeling that he had been planning for some time for the challenge of the Netherlands, and not accounted for the disastrous defence of their crown by holders Spain.

Arguably, a Mexico defensive unit in their current vein of form could well thrive on the challenge of thwarting the attacking partnership of Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie and provide one of the major upsets of the knockout stages.

 

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