Group A is made up of Brazil, Croatia, Mexico and Cameroon. The expectations of the home support are high and Brazil should not have any problems dealing with the other countries in this Group. If we assume that Brazil will run away with the Group the interest lies in who will finish second.
Using FIFA Rankings (Brazil ranked 3) we see Croatia are ranked 18 and Mexico are ranked 20, Cameroon are not the force they once were when they led the African Nation into the quarter finals back in 1990 with Roger Millar, Cameroon are currently ranked 56. Croatia went up 2 spots in the last FIFA reshuffle with Mexico falling 1 place.
Given this scenario the likelihood is Croatia and Mexico will be competing for the second qualification spot. Croatia are slightly shorter priced that Mexico, with Croatia 11/10 and Mexico 5/4.
Their head to head record shows Croatia winning 2 matches and Mexico winnning 1. Mexicos' win came at the 2002 World Cup.
I take Mexico to get through the Group on the basis that I expect Croatia to lose their opening game against Brazil and Mexico will beat Cameroon. As such when Croatia play Cameroon the pressure will be on Croatia to win the game which may cause an upset.
I expect the Group to finish like this
Brazil
Mexico
Croatia
Cameroon
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