This Friday evening, the dice will be thrown and the initial phase of the World Cup will be over.
In Group G, Switzerland can accompany Brazil in the round of 16, except to lose to Serbia.
The qualification of Cameroon passes, it, by an improbable exploit against Brazil.
In Group H, logic would have Ghana accompany Portugal in the round of 16, but the "Black Stars" remain under threat from Uruguay, as well as from South Korea.
The program
4 p.m.: South Korea - Portugal (beIN);
Ghana - Uruguay (beIN)
8 p.m.: Serbia - Switzerland (beIN);
Cameroon - Brazil (beIN, TF1)
Big game: Cameroon v Brazil
At the Lusail stadium, the future theater of the final on December 18, Brazil faces Cameroon and is aiming for a clear round in group G. Despite the injury of its star Neymar (right ankle), Brazil is one of the only three selections to have won their first two matches of the initial phase - with France and Portugal - dominating Serbia (2-0) then Switzerland (1-0).
The Brazilians need a draw or a win against Cameroon to join a relatively strong half of the table with Argentina and the Netherlands in particular, while perhaps waiting for Spain.
Coach Tite still has to do without the services of Neymar, injured against Serbia in the first game, and who hopes to recover from the knockout stage.
The technician has the opportunity to rotate his squad before entering the final phase of the tournament.
“Of course, it's a risk (to rotate a lot), but it's also an opportunity for the players to show their talent, believes Tite.
We have a plethora of top players, we don't call them reserves.
»
For their part, Cameroon are a miracle thanks to the draw against Serbia - 3-3 after being down 3-1 - and have no other option than to beat Brazil to keep a hope of qualification.
However, the Indomitable Lions do not have their destiny in their hands and will be dependent on the result between Switzerland and Serbia.
However, Cameroon has already beaten Brazil twice: 2-1 at the 2000 Olympics and 1-0 at the 2003 Confederations Cup. “In football, there are also realities, but everything is possible, believes Rigobert Song, the Lions manager.
In the Confederations Cup, we believed in it.
But tomorrow is a match from another dimension.
We need three points tomorrow (today), no matter how, we'll sleep with it and eat with that in mind.
We've done it before and we can do it again."
Player to watch: Granit Xhaka
On the geopolitical field, the Serbia-Switzerland match this Friday evening is much more than a qualifying match for the round of 16 in the eyes of Granit Xhaka, the Swiss midfielder of Albanian origin, just like striker Xherdan Shaqiri who shares his roots.
When the two players overturned the game against Serbia (2-1) four years ago, at the same stage of the Russian World Cup, they celebrated their goals by mimicking the two-headed eagle symbol of Greater Albania, an attitude that had been expensive.
Swiss skipper.
Box to box.
Our Granit Xhaka 👊 pic.twitter.com/if5aBtigqK
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) November 24, 2022
“In 2018, we left a lot, a lot, a lot of energy there, remembers Xhaka.
Now we are hopefully professional enough to focus totally on football.
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Covered with insults in Serbia, targeted by a Swiss controversy over their degree of attachment to the national team, the haughty midfielder and the small striker with the air of a weightlifter had escaped sporting sanctions but FIFA had imposed a fine on them .
Above all, they appeared dull in the third pool match against Costa Rica (2-2) and in the round of 16 loss to Sweden (1-0).
A loss of influx incompatible with the new ambitions of the Nati.
Because the Swiss, who won their first match last year since 1938 to reach the quarter-finals of the Euro by offering themselves their French neighbors in passing, set themselves no limits.
Xhaka, repositioned just in front of the defense against Brazil, played a key role in consolidating the Swiss block and bringing out the balls cleanly, orchestrating a formidable trap until Casemiro's late goal (83rd) and a narrow 1-0 defeat.
“I am 30 years old, I have more experience and I have calmed down,” says Xhaka, finally fulfilled at Arsenal, before specifying: “But obviously, I still have my other side in me …” .
The sentence: "Maybe I would have done the same..."
By appearing against Uruguay this afternoon, the Ghanaian André Ayew, 32, will have in mind the painful experience of the Black Stars against this same opponent at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
La Celeste beat Ghana in an electric quarter-final.
The Ghanaians had missed a penalty at the very end of extra time, after a goal was slipped off the line by Luis Suarez.
After which, the Africans had given in to shots on goal... (1-1 ap, 4-2 on pens).
"Whatever happened, we can't go back," said Ayew, the only one of the 26 Ghanaian players in Qatar present in South Africa.
Maybe I would have done the same if it had been the other way around.
It was worth it in their eyes but for us it was the worst moment of our life.
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The number: 9
After making World Cup history by becoming the first to score in five different editions, Cristiano Ronaldo, 37, has the opportunity to equal or even surpass a new record in South Korea - Portugal.
Currently at 8 goals in the World Cup, CR7 is only one unit behind Eusebio, the Portuguese top scorer in the World Cup in history with 9 goals, all scored during the 1966 edition in England.