Mexico outplayed Cameroon in their Group A opener to earn a deserved 1-0 win in a rain-lashed encounter at the Arena das Dunas on Friday evening.
Giovani dos Santos looked to have opened the scoring when he sidefooted home after 11 minutes, but the linesman adjudged him, wrongly, to be offside.
Dos Santos had the ball in the net for a second time before the break, but again the Villarreal striker's effort was ruled out for offside with the replays once again rendering the verdict incorrect.
Mexico maintained their tempo after the break and deservedly made their breakthrough just after the hour when Oribe Peralta tucked home the rebound after dos Santos had seen his initial effort parried by Charles Itandje.
"They disallowed two goals that were valid, but we knew it could be like that," Mexico coach Miguel Herrera told the media after the match.
"The important thing is that we picked ourselves up, we looked for the result and we got it."
Cameroon coach Volker Finke said: "We're very disappointed with the result; I think we deserved a draw.
"There's still all to play for, though, and we're going to head into the Croatia match with the intention of winning."
Lineups:
Mexico: Guillermo Ochoa; Paul Aguilar, Francisco Rodríguez, Rafael Márquez, Héctor Moreno, Miguel Layún; Héctor Herrera (Carlos Salcido 92); José Juan Vázquez, Andrés Guardado (Marco Fabián 69); Giovani dos Santos, Oribe Peralta (Javier Hernández 73)
Cameroon: Charles Itandje; Cédric Djeugoue (Dany Nounkeu 45), Nicolas N'Koulou, Aurélien Chedjou, Benoît Assou-Ekotto; Stéphane Mbia, Alexandre Song (Pierre Webó 79), Eyong Enoh; Benjamin Moukandjo, Samuel Eto'o, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting
Giovani dos Santos looked to have opened the scoring when he sidefooted home after 11 minutes, but the linesman adjudged him, wrongly, to be offside.
Dos Santos had the ball in the net for a second time before the break, but again the Villarreal striker's effort was ruled out for offside with the replays once again rendering the verdict incorrect.
Mexico maintained their tempo after the break and deservedly made their breakthrough just after the hour when Oribe Peralta tucked home the rebound after dos Santos had seen his initial effort parried by Charles Itandje.
"They disallowed two goals that were valid, but we knew it could be like that," Mexico coach Miguel Herrera told the media after the match.
"The important thing is that we picked ourselves up, we looked for the result and we got it."
Cameroon coach Volker Finke said: "We're very disappointed with the result; I think we deserved a draw.
"There's still all to play for, though, and we're going to head into the Croatia match with the intention of winning."
Lineups:
Mexico: Guillermo Ochoa; Paul Aguilar, Francisco Rodríguez, Rafael Márquez, Héctor Moreno, Miguel Layún; Héctor Herrera (Carlos Salcido 92); José Juan Vázquez, Andrés Guardado (Marco Fabián 69); Giovani dos Santos, Oribe Peralta (Javier Hernández 73)
Cameroon: Charles Itandje; Cédric Djeugoue (Dany Nounkeu 45), Nicolas N'Koulou, Aurélien Chedjou, Benoît Assou-Ekotto; Stéphane Mbia, Alexandre Song (Pierre Webó 79), Eyong Enoh; Benjamin Moukandjo, Samuel Eto'o, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting
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