Cameroon vs Croatia

Date
Wed 18th June 2014 (UTC)

Timestamp

Time

18:00:00 UTC

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League
FIFA World Cup

Season
2014

Round
0

Status

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		vs
	0 No timeline found..		4 No timeline found..

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Description

In a match where both teams needed at least a point to stay alive in the competition, Croatia opened scoring when Ivica Olic scored from close range from Ivan Perišic's pass. Just before half time, Cameroon was reduced to 10 men when Alex Song was dismissed for an off the ball incident with Mario Mandžukic. Perišic scored at the beginning of the second half when he intercepted Cameroonian goalkeeper Charles Itandje's goal kick and ran 50 yards before slotting in at the near post. Mandžukic scored the last two goals, the first a header from Danijel Pranjic's corner and the second a tap in after Itandje parried Eduardo's shot into his path. The result confirmed Cameroon's elimination from the tournament.

In a case of infighting, Cameroonian defender Benoît Assou-Ekotto was caught on camera head-butting teammate Benjamin Moukandjo. Song later apologised to Mandžukic and his country for his ejection, while Cameroonian coach Volker Finke said he was very disappointed with their performance.

On 1 July 2014, Cameroon officials announced that they had opened an investigation on claims that seven of the Cameroon's players were involved in fixing the result. However, FIFA said there was no evidence that there were any match fixing in any of Cameroon's matches.

Olic, who previously scored a goal in the 2002 World Cup, became the second player to have a 12-year gap between World Cup goals, after Michael Laudrup in 1986 and 1998. Mandžukic became the first Croatian player to score a brace in a World Cup game. The 4–0 scoreline was also the biggest win by Croatia in the World Cup.