Croatia's Ivica Olic, Dejan Lovren and Nikica Jelavic talk to the referee after a foul by Lovren during the 2014 World Cup opening match between Brazil and Croatia at the Corinthians arena in Sao Paulo
“Look, I'd gladly stay in Southampton if the club had any ambitions, if they kept the key players.” - Dejan Lovren REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

Final Score

Cameroon 0 Croatia 4

Overview

The eighteenth match of the FIFA World Cup 2014 is going to be held between Cameroon and Croatia. The Group A match is interesting as both the teams need to win it to stay alive in the tournament.

Teams

Cameroon: Cameroon lost to mighty Mexico in its first encounter. It is difficult to remember any other match in the world cup history, where the match was played under such heavy rain. German coach Volker Finke, however, refused to consider the conditions as an excuse for the defeat. Cameroon defence was pierced several times. There were 2 goals by Mexico that were denied due to off-side. To sum it up, Cameroon looked quite shaky in the match. It should improve its defence significantly to have any chance against a skilful team like Croatia.

Croatia: Croatia too lost its first match but it lost fighting a touch battle. It had to face the host nation in its opening encounter. In spite of the tremendous home support it received and the phenomenal skills it is often known for, Brazil did find Croatia a hard nut to crack. Coach Niko Kovac along with Vedran Corluka and Dejan Lovren were highly critical of the referring in the match as well. According to them, the host nation was unduly favoured in the match, which many viewers may agree on. The major point was that Croatia looked dangerous as a team that could score and defend equally well. However, Luka Modric may be suffering from an injury, which is a big concern.

Head to Head

These two teams never played against each other before.

Key Players

Cameroon: Assou-Ekotto and Moukandjo

Croatia: Mario Mandzukic, Ivica Olic and Sime Vrsaljko

Date, Time & Venue

Brazil's time zone is UTC/GMT -3. The match starts at 6 pm (local time) on June 18, which means it is 8 am on June 19 in New South Wales, Australia. The match will be held at Arena Amazonia in Manaus.

Prediction

Cameroon's lacklustre performance against Mexico will continue. Croatia, on the other hand, will be desperate for a win. The final score line will be 3-1 in favour of Croatia.

Group Predictions

Group A, Group B, Group C, Group D, Group E, Group F, Group G & Group H

Reference: FIFA

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au