Day two of the FIFA World Cup in Brazil gets under way today with three matches taking place.
Yesterday's match between Brazil and Croatia ended in controversial circumstances after the host nation were awarded a dubious penalty.
The host nation went 1-0 down early on when Marcelo scored an own-goal, but a Neymar brace and an injury time goal from Oscar secured a 3-1 opening night win.
The first match on Friday sees Mexico take on Cameroon in Natal, kicking off at 5pm.
Miguel Herrera takes charge of Mexico for only his third competitive game and he knows a win would go a long way as they look to progress to the second round for the sixth consecutive time.
They are 5/4 favourites for the tie with SkyBet, while a Cameroon win and the draw are the outside prices at 11/5.
The Mexicans have lost two of their three warm up matches so they are not in the best of form going into this tournament.
The form of the Cameroon national side is slightly better than that of Mexico, however, it is nothing to shout about.
From their last three matches, they have a record of one win, one draw and one loss.
Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez is 9/2 with SkyBet to grab the opening goal on Friday while former Chelsea striker Samuel Eto’o is also highly touted to score first at 15/2.
The second match on Friday is a repeat of the 2010 World Cup Final in Johannesburg.
Reigning World Champions Spain take on the Netherlands four years after their last meeting in the second game of the day.
Vincent del Bosque and his Spain squad could create history by winning the World Cup this year as they look to become the first nation to successfully defend both the European Championships and the World
Cup.
The current World Cup holders are 17/20 favourites for the win, while the Netherlands are 7/2 and the draw is 23/10.
Spain have won six out of their last seven matches while Van Gaal’s outfit have only won two of their last six matches.
It is anticipated that Spain will line up with Diego Costa as the lone striker. SkyBet have priced him and a 2-0 Spain win priced at 22/1.
If you think lightning might just strike twice for the Spanish though you can get odds of 35/1 for them to win 1-0 and Andreas Iniesta to score first – just as he did in the final four years ago.
Before bowing out as the manager of the Dutch national side Van Gaal will be hoping to get the best out of striker Robin Van Persie – who has had a injury hit season.
The pair will be working closely with each other next season at Manchester United and a fit and inform Van Perise could be key to seeing the 13 time Champions having a successful season.
The final game taking place on Friday sees South American side Chile take on Australia.
Chile, the 4/9 favourites for the game, are expected to comfortably beat Australia (13/2) who are ranked 62nd in the world, while the draw is priced at 16/5.
The South American side, who beat England 2-0 at Wembley last November, have comfortably won three of their last four internationals.
The two nations have previously met on four occasions. The first meeting between the two sides – and the only one in the World Cup so far – ended in a stalemate. The three other meetings have all been won by Chile.
Australia’s form heading into this World Cup is concerning as they’ve only won two games since they qualified for the finals.
Last weekend Angelos Postecoglou’s side lost 1-0 to Croatia.
Barcelona striker Alexis Sanchez is priced at 5/1 with SkyBet to score a brace against Australia while former Everton midfielder Tim Cahill is 9/1 to score first for Australia.
Tournament Tips:
GROUP A: Mexico v Cameroon: Draw at half-time; Mexico at full-time – 4/1
GROUP B: Spain v Netherlands: Spain to win by exactly two goals – 4/1
Chile v Australia: Chile win 3-0 – 17/2