With tournament favourites Brazil already qualified following victories over Serbia and Switzerland, the South Americans only need a point on Friday night against Cameroon to claim Group G.
Their opponents need to win by two goals and hope that Switzerland and Serbia play out a draw.
Should Serbia beat Switzerland, however, Cameroon will need to ensure their goal difference – one better than Serbia – remains that way.
If both Cameroon and Serbia win and end up on the same goal difference, Serbia will go through on goals scored.
Switzerland will advance with a win.
"There's everything to play for," said Cameroon coach Rigobert Song. "The team is prepared for an important match."
Brazil have won five of their six matches against Cameroon. The poor record, said midfielder André-Frank Zambo Anguissa, was motivation for the clash at the Lusail Stadium.
'We've got the weapons'
"It's the kind of match you want to be part of," he said. "We're at a World Cup so it's going to be a difficult match but that makes it exciting to be part of. We've got the weapons to pull off the victory."
A place in the last 16 would be Cameroon's first since their famous run to the last eight in 1990.
Should they succeed, they could meet any of the sides from Group H.
Pacesetters Portugal – who have beaten Ghana and Uruguay – can only be caught by Ghana in the fight for pool supremacy.
For that to happen, Portugal would need to lose to South Korea, with Ghana beating Uruguay and overturning a three goal-deficit.
Grudge match
Ghana require all three points to guarantee a spot in the knockout stages.
That win for many of the Ghana faithful would go some way to avenging the loss to Uruguay in the quarter-final at the 2010 World Cup, where Luis Suarez handled on the line in the last minute of extra-time to prevent a goal. Asamoah Gyan missed the spot kick, and Ghana lost a subsequent penalty shoot-out.
On the eve of the match, Suarez said he was unrepentant about his actions.
And refusing to encourage emotions, Ghana coach Otto Addo said his players would have to maintain their focus.
Group results
"We want to win and we would want to win even if it wasn't Uruguay. We want to go into the last 16.
"Uruguay has a lot of mentally strong players and there's a lot of experience in the team with very good strikers. We will have to be strong physically and mentally to face them."
A draw could be enough for Ghana at the Al Janoub Stadium, but only if South Korea do not beat Portugal by more than two goals at Education City Stadium.
If Uruguay and South Korea were to both win, Uruguay would need to ensure their goal difference remains better.
If they finish with the same goal difference, South Korea would progress on goals scored.
