Cameroon vs Croatia Prediction - Will Croatia Be Able To Defeat An Unstable Cameroonian Side?

Next Wednesday, Croatia will go head-to-head with Cameroon at Arena Amazônia in Manaus on a match that might be decisive for both teams in case of defeat.

Croatia are certainly still digesting that sour and controversial defeat against Brazil on the World Cup’s opening match. The Croats’ head coach, Niko Kovac, expressed his worries towards the referee’s performance during the press conference and suggested that maybe his team should already go home instead of having to withstand with such disrespectful attitudes from the officials and even from FIFA.

Despite the referee’s dubious performance, Croatia themselves were far from their best. Kovac displayed his usual 4-2-3-1 scheme with Modric and Rakitic composing the team’s duo of centre midfielders and dictating Croatia’s game tempo. Although they are both very creative, the Balkanic team midfield lacked aggressiveness and even some bravery, something that might have cost them at least one goal against Brazil.

The match against Cameroon will certainly be a good opportunity for the Croatian manager to correct some of the frailties his team’s presented on the tournament opening day, as they will face a considerably inferior opponent.

After failing to grant their ticket to the 2010 World Cup, the next match will be of paramount importance if the Croats want to somehow replicate their splendid performance of 1998, when they finished fourth.

For the match against the African Lions, Kovac will probably have all his players at his disposal since there aren’t currently any names written on the injury list, especially after Pranjic seems to be apparently recovered from his injury.

As for Cameroon, the match against Croatia is also decisive after their lost on the first match against Mexico. The African team’s World Cup campaign has already had plenty of controversial episodes, the first one related to the alleged disagreement between the players and Cameroonian football association and later regarding the alleged and inexplicable Eto’o’s absence from the team’s training sessions.

Cameroon left a pallid impression of themselves on the match against Mexico. The team looked appatic and only managed to disguise such numbness thanks to some individual efforts from their players. The Indomitable Lions were not completely tamed by Mexico and although they showed glimpses of their power on previous matches, they seem to be on a downwards spiral.

This being said, Croatia are favourites for claiming the match since Cameroon apparently have far more complicated problems to solve than mere tactical questions.

Croatia

Stats: W-3 L-0 D-2

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Cameroon

Stats: W-2 L-2 D-1

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Possible Line-ups

Croatia (4-2-3-1) - Pletikosa - Srna - Corluka - Lovren - Vrsaljko - Modric - Rakitic - Perisic - Kovacic - Olic - Mandzukic

Cameroon (4-2-3-1) - Itandje - Nkoulou - Djoegoe - Chedjou - Assou-Ekotto - Eyong - Song - M’bia - Moukandjo - Moting - Eto’o

Prediction: Croatia 2 Cameroon 0