please log in to view this image 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP Group A Venue: Arena das Dunas, Natal Date: Friday 13 June Kick-off: 17:00 BST Coverage: ITV, BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Sport website, highlights on BBC TV TEAM NEWS Mexico coach Miguel Herrera has confirmed that striker Javier Hernandez will not start against Cameroon, having gone nine matches without a goal. Giovani dos Santos will instead partner Oribe Peralta in attack, while Guillermo Ochoa is preferred in goal to Jose Corona. Cameroon captain Samuel Eto'o is a doubt, having trained intermittently during the last few weeks. Jean Makoun has just returned from an ankle injury and is unlikely to start. MATCH PREVIEW Having laboured to World Cup qualification, these two national sides have been hurriedly rebuilt and arrive in Brazil with their prospects unclear. Mexico were as abject in 2013 as they were impressive the year before, when they won all but two of their internationals and beat Brazil to Olympic gold. However, they used 47 players and four coaches in World Cup qualifying and had to thank their lucky stars and stripes when the USA preserved Mexico's play-off spot with two last-ditch goals to beat Panama. There have been clear signs of recovery under colourful coach Miguel Herrera, who has implemented a 5-3-2 formation and dynamic attacking style which relies heavily on the wing-backs. Nonetheless, successive 1-0 defeats in pre-World Cup friendlies have given Herrera cause for concern. "We haven't been that convincing when facing goal, so we have to work on it," admitted Herrera, whose stated objective is to end Mexico's run of five successive last-16 exits by reaching the quarter-finals. He added: "The most important game is the first, the boys now have in their heads beat Cameroon." Cameroon also changed their head coach - twice - during qualifying and only went top of their group when Fifa reversed their defeat by Togo because the Togolese had field a suspended player. Cameroon then arrived late in Brazil, just four days before their opening game, after refusing to board their intended flight until a dispute over bonuses was settled. Coach Volker Finke has downplayed the row and midfielder Stephane M'Bia was at pains to stress Cameroon's united team spirit, saying: "Four years ago we were catastrophic. The mood in the camp wasn't good, there were a lot of problems. "But this time that's not the case. We'll be making our mark on this tournament." MATCH FACTS Head-to-head This is only the second meeting between these two countries; Mexico won 1-0 in a friendly in Los Angeles in 1993. Mexico have never beaten an African team in the World Cup in three attempts. Mexico Mexico have suffered back-to-back 1-0 defeats, having previously been unbeaten in their first seven games under Miguel Herrera. They have lost more games than any other team at a World Cup finals (24). Javier Hernandez has gone nine matches without a goal for Mexico, his longest barren run at international level. Oribe Peralta has scored eight goals in his last six competitive appearances for Mexico. Cameroon Cameroon have only won one of their last 13 World Cup games (1-0 v Saudi Arabia in 2002), drawing four and losing eight. Samuel Eto'o has been directly involved in Cameroon's last four World Cup goals (three goals, one assist). No Cameroon player scored more than two goals in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers (Eric Choupo-Moting, Samuel Eto'o & Jean Makoun). Fabrice Olinga is the youngest player at the 2014 World Cup, having only turned 18 in May. please log in to view this image 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP Group B Venue: Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador Date: Friday 13 June Kick-off: 20:00 BST Coverage: BBC TV, BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Sport website TEAM NEWS Spain begin the defence of their World Cup crown with a fully-fit squad from which to choose. Brazil-born striker Diego Costa has recovered from the injury problems that blighted the end of his club season. Netherlands boss Louis van Gaal is expected to start with the 5-3-2 formation he has trialled in their warm-up matches. Jonathan de Guzman is fit again after a hamstring injury, while Wesley Sneijder is in line to win his 100th cap. Striker Robin van Persie is due to start despite being troubled by fitness problems with his groin and knee during Manchester United's campaign. "The last few days I have trained fully and so have no more problems," Van Persie said. "I am ready for it. Besides, for six years I have been playing with aches and pains, there is always something and I have learned to live with it." MATCH PREVIEW Spain's history makers take the first step towards adding what they hope will be another entry in football's record books when they open their World Cup campaign with a repeat of the 2010 final against the Netherlands. Vicente del Bosque's side are aiming to win a fourth straight major trophy, yet they have still had to laugh off questions that their unprecedented era of dominance will come to an end in Brazil. It is hard to understand how a squad blessed with 16 men that have already won a World Cup and average around 60 caps per man are being written off in certain quarters. "We need to keep focused and stick to the philosophy of playing style that has brought us so much success," says defender Sergio Ramos, who comes into the tournament fresh from winning the Champions League for Real Madrid. The 2010 World Cup final was no classic and, Andres Iniesta's winning goal aside, it is best remembered for the Netherlands' rough-house tactics - epitomised by Nigel de Jong's kung-fu kick on Xabi Alonso's chest. Referee Howard Webb was forced to issue 14 bookings and one red card. Dutch coach Louis van Gaal knows he is not blessed with a squad as good as Spain or the other favourites at this tournament, so he has created a new formation to work towards maximising the strengths of what he has at his disposable. Gone is the favoured Dutch 4-3-3 and in its place will be a five-man defence to make "space narrow" for Spain's attackers, according to Van Gaal. The change has seemingly gone down well with a notoriously fractious Dutch squad. "I don't think at the moment we are capable of playing tika taka," admits Arjen Robben. The Bayern Munich player will be motivated to atone for his miss in extra time in the final four years ago and lines-up alongside skipper Robin van Persie in attack. MATCH FACTS Head-to-head This is the first time in World Cup history that the finalists from the previous tournament have met in their first game. Spain lead by five wins to four from their 10 previous meetings. The only draw was a friendly match in Barcelona in 1987 that finished 1-1. Their only previous World Cup encounter was in the 2010 final, which Spain won 1-0 Spain have 16 returning players from their squad at the 2010 tournament - the Netherlands have seven. Spain The defending world champions have only won their first game in three of the last 10 World Cups (D4, L3). Italy drew 1-1 with Paraguay in 2010. Spain lost their opening game of the 2010 World Cup to Switzerland, but went on to become the first team to win the tournament having lost their first game. That defeat to the Swiss is the only match that coach Vicente del Bosque has lost in 25 World Cup fixtures, including qualifiers (W22, D2). They won 1-0 in all four knockout matches at the 2010 World Cup. Only Italy (five games in 1990) and Switzerland (five in 2006 & 2010) have ever had a longer run of clean sheets in the competition. Goalkeeper Iker Casillas is three World Cup clean sheets short of matching the 10-game record shared by England's Peter Shilton and France's Fabien Barthez. Casillas has gone 433 consecutive minutes unbeaten - a clean sheet against the Dutch would see him surpass the record of 517 minutes set by Italy's Walter Zenga in 1990. In 2010, Spain became the lowest-scoring winners of a World Cup finals, scoring just eight goals in seven matches. Manchester United duo David de Gea and Juan Mata are the only members of the Spain squad not to have played for a club that qualified for the Champions League this season. David Villa - Spain's top scorer at World Cup finals with eight goals - has been directly involved in seven of Spain's last nine goals in the tournament (six goals, one assist). Netherlands The Netherlands have made it past the group stage in their last seven World Cup appearances, reaching the final three times. Robin van Persie was the top European scorer in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers with 11 goals. Wesley Sneijder is expected to become the sixth Dutchman to win 100 caps. Dirk Kuyt could win his 99th. The Netherlands have won 63% of their World Cup matches outside Europe, compared to just 42% on European soil. please log in to view this image 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP Group B Venue: Arena Pantanal, Cuiaba Date: Friday 13 June 2014 Kick-off: 23:00 BST Coverage: ITV, BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Sport website, highlights on BBC TV TEAM NEWS Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal may sit out this match altogether to rest the knee he had surgery on just over a month ago. Gary Medel is expected to operate in central defence, rather than the midfield role he has for Cardiff City. Australia coach Ange Postecoglou has to decide whether or not to start veteran midfielder Mark Bresciano, who has been troubled by a back injury. Crystal Palace midfielder Mile Jedinak will skipper the Socceroos. MATCH PREVIEW While Spain versus the Netherlands is likely to be a tight game of tactical cat and mouse, the following match in Group B between Chile and Australia is set to be anything but. Chile are football's equivalent of basketball's Harlem Globetrotters or rugby's Barbarians side. Set up with a mandate to attack, attack attack, watching them in full flow is one of the most exhilarating sights in world football. Coach Jorge Sampaoli's line-up gives but a cursory nod to defending as the brief he issues his team is to aggressively press their opponents high up the pitch - and then let the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal and Eduardo Vargas cut the defence to ribbons. In Sanchez, they have a potential star of the tournament. The Chilean is in red-hot form and is emerging from a tricky time at Barcelona. "Alexis needs freedom", says Sampaoli. "Barcelona's style is probably not the best for him⦠With Chile he's a difference-maker". As for Australia, many fans have been predicting the worst for a young squad massively short of experience at the highest level and containing players from the likes of Swindon and Preston. It is a calculated gamble by coach Ange Postecoglou as their Golden Generation of players have nearly all gone. Blooding youth now will be key to their success in the future, even if it means a few heavy defeats along the way for the lowest-ranked side at this World Cup. The Socceroos have made it clear, though, that they won't be parking any buses and will fight fire with fire against Chile. "We certainly will know how they play," says Socceroos assistant coach Aurelio Vidmar. "And we'll try to put them on the back foot, make them think twice about how aggressive they want to be in terms of their playing style. That's what we're starting to plan and Ange is starting to get the message across to the players". MATCH FACTS Head-to-head Australia's first-ever point in a World Cup group came in a 0-0 draw against Chile in June 1974. It remains the Socceroos' only clean sheet in 10 World Cup matches. Australia have never beaten La Roja in any competition, drawing that World Cup match and losing three other friendlies so far. Chile Since their third-place finish in 1962, Chile have only won two of their 17 World Cup games (D6, L9) - against Honduras and Switzerland in 2010. Chile have lost against a subsequent finalist in each of their last three World Cup appearances (West Germany in 1982, Brazil in 1998 and Spain in 2010). Arturo Vidal was the top scoring midfielder in South American qualifying, with five goals. Chile conceded more goals (1.56 per game) in qualifying than any other of the 32 participants in Brazil. But only Argentina (35) scored more goals than their 29. They only drew one of their 16 qualifiers - a 3-3 draw with Columbia. Australia Australia are the lowest ranked side at the World Cup (62nd). The Socceroos have only won two of their 10 games at World Cups (D3, L5) - against Japan in 2006 (3-1) and Serbia in 2010 (2-1). Australia's last eight World Cup games have produced seven red cards (four for the Socceroos, three for their opponents). The average number of caps in the squad when it was announced was just 17 per player. Mark Bresciano and Tim Cahill could become the first Australians to play in three World Cups.
Looking forward to the Spain v Holland game. Reckon the Dutch will be looking for revenge for the 2010 final. Be interesting how the Spaniards hand the more physical approach.
I have Mexico in the sweep here, my 9yr old daughter has Mexico in the sweep at her school, when she seen they were playing today, she was all "come on Mexico", I might get her into football yet, her 2 older brothers hate it, weird f**kers. So other than England our household is Mexican for thus one, they havnt got a chance in hell of winning it though, so she us going to end up disappointed, welcome to my world with Sunderland.
The referee's have a problem with the games today. None of the teams are Brazil so they don't know who to favour. They're backing Spain and Mexico but are clueless for the third match
The officiating so far is shocking. Mexico should be two up. Perfectly good goals. Cameroon had one ruled out too but I was pissing so missed it.
Fully raging here, I've got £30 on Mexico to win, and had just put £10 on first half goals over 0.5. ****ing ****ers.
Cameroon are set up to avoid defeat, their midfield is sitting so deep. Mexico will win this over 90 minutes, I reckon.
No question for me. I tell you what, when someone has a go at this Mexico side they will hurt them on the break, a lot of players with lovely touch and bags of pace. Be a great game v Brazil I reckon.
I'm sure that's the next game for them. Reckon Brazil could **** them personally. I've got Spain 2-2 in the next game at 20/1 Chile 3-0 in the last at 9/1
Now it's 1-0! Should be 3! More even, Mexico have put some wicked balls into the box that should have been converted. It could have been 5-0.
Delivery has been superb, you're right. I really like this Mexico team, look full of ideas, through balls, quick passing. Most deserved lead you'll see in truth.
Defo a bit light on physicality, they look over the shop on set plays but like you said the sheer pace and trickiness makes them lethal on the break, absolutely lethal. Pundits were putting them down before the game which I think is daft. Perfect competition for them i think, to be able to perform with such pace and sharpness surely puts them ahead of most of the European teams once you factor the heat.
Yeah, they are shocking on dead balls, they are a very small team as well so the top sides will overpower them, but they are entertaining as ****. This should be 5 or 6 at least.
That spray is marvellous stuff. It's made all the little cheating footy players instantly conform and behave like good boys.
