Mexico 1 - 0 Cameroon

Mexico’s Oribe Peralta ensured justice was done just as the Brazil World Cup was about to be hit with yet another refereeing scandal.

Colombian referee Wilmar Roldan had risked mutiny inside Natal’s Estadio das Dunas by wrongly ruling out two legitimate Mexican goals for offside in the first half, both netted by ex-Spurs forward Giovani dos Santos.

So he – and Fifa – would have been mightily relieved when Mexican domination was eventually rewarded after an hour when Cameroon goalkeeper Charles Itandje pushed out a shot by dos Santos into the path of Peralta to grab the rebound.

The result leaves Mexico favourites to qualify from Group A alongside Brazil whom they face on Tuesday in Fortaleza and the goal celebration of tracksuited Mexico coach Miguel Herrera – roaring like a lion as heavy rain lashed down around him – became an instant hit on the internet.

More seriously, the performances of the officials will again be under the microscope following on from the opening game when Brazil were wrongly awarded a match-changing penalty against Croatia when Fred dived following a tussle by Dejan Lovren.

If anything, the decisions made by Roldan and his assistants were even worse, if not ultimately costly.

And Herrera made his displeasure clear despite his side’s victory. ‘We scored two clear goals in the first half - frankly the refereeing took them away. There was only one team controlling the ball.

'We could have scored more but we go into the next match with three points and very high spirits. The boys gave their souls on the pitch.’

Twenty thousand Mexican fans watched their team dominate a dismal Cameroon side who looked drained by a pre-tournament row over bonus payments that had delayed their arrival in south America.

The only thing stopping Mexico and a handsome win in extremely wet conditions were the officials.

They ruled out dos Santos’ volley from Hector Herrera’s cross after 11 minutes when he replays showed he was level with two Cameroon defenders.

And Herrera rightly went ballistic on the touchline after half-an-hour when Cameroon’s Eric Choupo-Moting inadvertently flicked on a Mexican corner for dos Santos to score from close range – only for the linesman to wrongly identify Choupo-Moting as a Mexican and put his flag up for offside.

Even so, Mexico should have been ahead anyway given their possession, and Rafa Marquez and Hector Moreno bizarrely got in each other’s way when left unmarked at a set-piece.

In contrast, Cameroon looked a shadow of the team that thrilled the world at Italia 90 with Samuel Eto’o isolated up front.

Source : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worldcup2014/article-2657314/Mexico-1-0-Cameroon-match-report-Giovani-Dos-Santos-sees-two-goals-disallowed-Oribe-Peralta-grabs-winner.html