(Football news) The Swiss come into this World Cup after they reached the quarter-final at the Euro 2020, while Cameroon finished third at the Africa Cup of Nations. After four consecutive big international tournaments, it will take some getting used to seeing Switzerland without Vladmir Petkovic at the helm as former Schaffhausen boss Murat Yakin took over the managerial position recently and will take the national side to a World Cup for the first time.

Since he took over in August 2021, the Basler has seen a remarkably successful World Cup qualifying campaign as they remained unbeaten with 18 points from a possible 24 points to top the group ahead of Euro 2020 winners Italy. They were also the A-Team and retained their spot in League A of the Nations League, bouncing back after three consecutive defeats to beat the likes of Portugal, Spain and Czech Republic in an impressive run of wins. Despite a 2-0 defeat to Ghana in their final warm-up match, the Swiss will be very confident ahead of their fourth consecutive World Cup, with the likes of Breel Embolo, Zakaria and captain Granit Xhaka heading to Qatar in great form. 

Cameroon have struggled for form since their remarkable run in the Africa Cup of Nations, winning just one of their last five matches, with their only victory coming against 141st-ranked Burundi. Rigobert Song's men qualified for Qatar 2022 in dramatic fashion as Karl Toko Ekambi scored a last minute goal to break Algerian hearts to qualify for their eighth World Cup back in March.

The Lions are the fourth-lowest ranked side in the entire tournament and find themselves 28 places behind their Swiss counterparts, and 22 positions adrift of anyone else in Group G. Nonetheless, they have the attacking talent in the teams as the likes of Toko Ekambi and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who is in the form of his life, having scored 11 goals and three assists in his last 10 games. Cameroon might just take inspiration from Saudi Arabia's shock victory over Argentina on Tuesday as the five-time African champions will head into this crucial World Cup opener with real belief.

Switzerland possible starting lineup:

Sommer; Rodriguez, Akanji, Elvedi, Widmer; Xhaka, Freuler; Shaqiri, Sow, Vargas; Embolo

Cameroon possible starting lineup:

Onana; Tolo, Castelletto, Nkoulou, Fai; Toko Ekambi, Hongla, Anguissa, Mbeumo; Aboubakar, Choupo-Moting

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