MEXICO 1-0 CAMEROON
Second game in the books and the story again is some questionable refereeing decisions. Both teams combined for 3 first-half goals, all of which were called back due to the offside rule. Before I go further, this is the offside rule:
if a player is in an offside position (as defined below) when the ball is touched or played by a team-mate, the player may not become actively involved in the play. A player is in an offside position when closer to the opponent's goal line than both the ball and the second-to-last defender (which is usually the last outfield player), and also in the opponent's half of the pitch.
Cameroon's goal was a definite offside. The first Mexican goal was questionable. It appeared dos Santos was onside but it was very close. The 2nd disallowed Mexican goal was an awful decision however. Onside when the corner kick was taken, all Mexican players were onside, as the ball was only touched by Cameroon's Maxim Choupo-Moting. Balls off the defender do not activate the offside rule and this should have stood.
It was a frustrating first half for this Mexican team but they also appeared the stronger of the 2 sides. Mexico had great success in the centre of the field with Giovani dos Santos as expected. It was the play of Miguel Layun on the left side of the field that raised eyebrows in the first half though. Time and again, Layun was able to get behind Cedric Djeugoue in the Cameroon defence and caused so much trouble that it sent Djeugoue to the bench at halftime.
Mexico finally found the goal they were seeking in the 61st minute, when dos Santos split the central defence and while his initial shot was saved by Itandje, no one from Cameroon picked up top scorer Oribe Peralta who buried the rebound to (finally) give Mexico their deserved lead.
Outside of these chances, it was a mostly sloppy affair in both ends. Both defences had mental lapses more then anything else. The Mexican defence allowed Assou-Ekotto to sneak through the left flank and his cross to Eto'o should have been converted if not for a poor one-time shot by the veteran. Hernandez for Mexico found himself wide open in front of goal late but failed to connect properly on his volley.
Cameroon nearly got a shock result in injury time themselves, when Benjamin Moukandjo's header was stopped only by a diving Guillermo Ochoa. Other then that though, Mexico was the clear best team in this contest, able to control the ball and effortlessly get in to the Cameroon area.
Goals
Mexico: Peralta (61')
Cameroon: None
Discipline
Mexico: Moreno (57')
Cameroon: Nounkeu (77')
Man of the Match
Giovani dos Santos was named man of the match having scored 2 wrongly disallowed goals and being a dynamic playmaker in the Mexican midfield. dos Santos was only robbed of a third goal by a great Charles Itandje save which was followed by Peralta's rebound goal.
Key Moment
What should have been a Mexican blowout could have turned disastrous for them in injury time. Benjamin Moukandjo got free to meet an Assou-Ekotto cross and his header appeared destined for the far post before a diving Ochoa made the catch. Had little to do in the game but that huge dive from Ochoa is directly responsible for 2 additional points for the Mexican team.
What We Learned from Mexico
Dynamic attacking presence even without Hernandez in a starting role. dos Santos was all over the field, Aguilar and Layun gave the Cameroon wing backs fits all game and Vazquez was more then adequate in the holding midfield. Looked a little sloppy in their own penalty area, part of which is a result of Cameroon's extreme size advantage. Shape up the back end and be more solid in clearances, they should be good.
What We Learned from Cameroon
Better on the defensive end since pre-tournament games but every Mexican goal (allowed or disallowed) exposed their biggest problem. These guys have no idea where the opposing attackers are in the area. No one had dos Santos when he headed the ball in for both goals, Marquez barely missed a header off a free kick where about 4 Mexicans were all surrounding the ball without a yellow jersey. And everyone was just standing for the counted goal. Not a team with enough talent offensively to have a defence standing around doing nothing.
Going Forward
Mexico needed to win this game to set up a likely winner-advances game against Croatia. For Cameroon, this means they'll have to take a result against Brazil to get out of the group. Never say never but Cameroon could be done in this group already.
