Group A is not the toughest group in the World Cup, but it has host Brazil and it is far from the easiest.
Group A Betting Odds: World Cup 2014 Preview
Brazil is favored to win World Cup 2014 and they are big favorites to win Group A. Mexico and Croatia are battling for second spot here.
Buda Mendes
Brazil is the big betting favorite not only to win Group A, but the whole tournament as well. Croatia and Mexico are both solid teams and the match winner between them may be the squad that advances to the knockout stage.
Cameroon has a couple of star players, but the talent simply is not there to attract much interest on the World Cup betting menus.
BRAZIL
Odds to win group: -400
Odds to finish bottom of group: +8000
Odds to win World Cup: +275
Brazil is playing on their home soil and is a loaded squad from top to bottom. As the host they did not have to qualify, but is undefeated in friendlies leading up to this summer including wins over Portugal and Chile.
Neymar, who is a rising superstar, and Hulk lead a solid offense and the defense, which actually may be the strength of the squad for a change, is led by David Luiz and Thiago Silva.
The squad is liberally sprinkled with world-class players and it does not hurt that they will have the home field advantage. Unlike the last several World Cups Brazil does not have one shining star, but that may change if Neymar, the young striker from Barcelona, can shine on the world stage.
CROATIA
Odds to win group: +600
Odds to finish bottom of group: +350
Odds to win World Cup: +15000
The Croats have a solid midfield led by Luca Modric from Real Madrid and while Bayern Munich’s Mario Mandzukic is a solid FW he will miss the opening group match against Brazil because of suspension.
Modric and Alen Halilovic will have to play well in the midfield as well as play solid on offense and defense since the squad has concerns in both of those areas.
The Croats were less than impressive in qualifying and in the European playoff were the lucky squad that drew Iceland. Also, will they be ready for Brazil? They lost to Brazil in a friendly and they did not look good in their next few tune up matches with wins over Liechtenstein and Korean Republic and a draw facing Switzerland.
MEXICO
Odds to win group: +800
Odds to finish bottom of group: +300
Odds to win World Cup: +10000
Mexico was a mess in WC qualifying firing a few head coaches, but they did regroup with some good wins and beat New Zealand in an intercontinental playoff.
Javier Hernandez and Oribe Peralta with attacking MF Giovani dos Santos lead a good attack. However, the defense is a concern and their MF does not match up well with Brazil and Croatia.
They did play to a couple of draws facing Nigeria and the USA, who will both be playing in Brazil and their wing attacking strengths may pose problems for the other squads in the group.
CAMEROON
Odds to win group: +1500
Odds to finish bottom of group: -150
Odds to win World Cup: +50000
Cameroon does have a couple of great players in Chelsea FW Samuel Eto’o and Barcelona MF Alex Song, but after this duo there is a big drop off in world-class talent.
They played down to their opposition in WC qualifying and they have issues all over the pitch. Cameroon is a team that plays a physical game and that may wreak havoc with Brazil and Mexico, but they simply do not have the talent on the pitch to compete with the top teams.
See More:
