Goals: Croatia—Olic 11' Perisic 48' Mandzukic 61', 73'
Recap: Croatia captured its first points of the 2014 World Cup, undressing Cameroon 4-0 in Manaus.
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An early goal from Ivica Olic was enough to eliminate Cameroon from the tournament. An off-the-ball red card from Alex Song added insult to injury. Croatia would take advantage in the second half, thanks to a poor launch polished off by Ivan Perisic. A Mario Mandzukic brace sealed the victory.
Croatia must now defeat Mexico in the final match of the group stage to advance to the Round of 16.
Key Moment: Cameroon's impotence in the final third was bad—after all, the team failed to land a single shot on goal in the first half—but Alex Song's red card was worse. The 26-year-old inexplicably elbowed Mandzukic in the back following an innocuous shoulder challenge. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson would've been proud, but Song's lack of composure forced Cameroon to finish the final 50 minutes down a man. Any chance of a comeback dissipated after that.
Man of the Match: His grazing shoulder caused Song to lose his cool. His brace sealed the victory. The award goes to Mario Mandzukic.
Lesson Learned: Brazil will have zero issues finishing atop Group A. The host nation currently sits on four points with a plus-two goal differential. Mexico carries the same total, but trail Brazil by one in the tiebreaker column. Cameroon will pose zero threat to the Selecao, all but ensuring the full three points. The same cannot be said for Mexico. Croatia isn't just capable of drawing with El Tri, the team has enough quality to win outright. The battle for second place in Group A is very much on.
Up Next: Cameroon travels to Brasília to bow out of the 2014 World Cup on June 23, while Croatia visits Recife to face Mexico.
Note: Credit all statistics to officially licensed data from Opta Sports (via WhoScored).
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