Cameroon-Brazil Preview: Selecao aiming to top Group A

Brazil somewhat surprisingly dropped two points against Mexico in their last outing as coach Luiz Felipe Scolari went for a slightly more cautious approach than in their opener against Croatia, with Ramires taking the place of Hulk on the right wing after the Zenit man was deemed not fit enough to start.

The Ramires experiment was not as successful as Scolari would have hoped, however, and one of either Bernard or Hulk is expected to start in the Selecao’s final group game, with the Shakhtar winger in pole position for a starting berth, writes Stefan Coerts in goal.com

Two other players who have come in for criticism in the past few days following some underwhelming performances are midfielder Paulinho and striker Fred, with Hernanes and Jo waiting for their chance.

Nevertheless, Scolari has proven to be fairly loyal toward his players in his second spell as Brazil boss and he is unlikely to sacrifice one of the two ahead of the match versus Cameroon.

Cameroon coach Volker Finke, meanwhile, will have some serious selection headaches after two disastrous performances against Mexico and Croatia. The Indomitable Lions will be without the suspended Alex Song following his red card in the loss versus Croatia, with Jean Il Makoun possibly taking his place in midfield.

Furthermore, Finke is expected to leave out Benoit Assou-Ekotto following his on-pitch attack on team-mate Ben Moukandjo, and Henri Bedimo is likely to take his place at left-back.

Up front, Cameroon will be hopeful that star striker Samuel Eto’o returns to the fold after missing their disastrous defeat versus Croatia due to injury. Whether the experienced striker makes it remains to be seen, but Finke is hopeful his main dangerman will be available again.