Written by: Armando Zamora • June 13, 2014• World Cup

Refs Make More Mistakes in 1-0 Win For Mexico

The second day of the FIFA World Cup kicked off with the second game of Group A featuring Mexico and African team Cameroon, and while the 1-0 scoreline implies a close game with few chances, it was anything but that.

Although their qualifying route to the World Cup was nothing short of horrific, Mexico quickly established dominance over Cameroon in the opening minutes of the game playing a quick and direct attacking game that left the African side with very little to respond with. Dominating possession, Mexico’s first clear chance at goal was with Giovani Dos Santos who was called offside at the 11th minute by the line ref. The call was close and coupled with the lack of cards being shown in an aggressive game, it became clear that the man of the match would soon become Colombian referee Wilmar Roldan. The next clear chance was by Cameroon at the 16th minute who netted the ball in but Samuel Eto’o was found offside. After a corner was given to Mexico, the ball came crossing into the box and found the heads of Cameroonian defenders into their own net but a terrible call by the ref disallowed the goal as he called Gio Dos Santos offside for the second time. Cameroonian, Stephane Mbia found himself lucky as he flagrantly elbowed Andres Guardado and avoided a card and perhaps even a sending off. As halftime came the teams were level at 0 and Mexican fans in the Estádio das Dunas in Natal could be heard booing, feeling robbed of what could have been a 2-0 lead.

The lead did not come until the 61st minute where the lone goal was scored after a rebounded kick by Oribe Peralta. Following the goal, Mexico remained strong in defense, steering Cameroon’s attacks into neutralized possessions. Mexico struggled to maintain the control they displayed in the first half, but fixed their mistakes with their defending third. It was at the 90th minute, however, that what seemed like a finished game was threatened by Cameroon when Assou-Ekotto swung a cross to Moukandjo who headed the ball towards the top right corner of the Mexican goal, but Ochoa who made his first appearance in a World Cup made a spectacular diving save to keep the Cameroonians from leveling the game.

Overall Mexico proved the doubters wrong and showed a brilliant display of dominance over Cameroon and had it not been for bad calls from the referee, the score could have reflected what actually happened on the pitch.

Up next is Spain who face Netherlands in the first game of group B at 3 P.M.
Followed by Chile v Australia at 5:30 P.M.

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