Croatia vanquished Cameroon 4-0 in the sides’ World Cup Group A match at Arena Amazonia, Manaus on Wednesday night.
Nicknamed the ‘Vatreni’ (The Blazers), Croatia were off to a flying start after forward Ivica Olic scored the leading goal in the 11th minute of the game.
Through the last minutes of the first half Cameroonian midfielder Alexandre Song was sent off by Portuguese referee Pedro Proenca after punching Croatian forward Mario Mandzukic in the back.
In 48th minute of second half Croatia doubled their tally with midfielder Ivan Perisic calmly finding the net, one-on-one against Cameroonian goalkeeper and Konyaspor player Charles Itandje, 2-0.
In the 61st minute of play 28-year-old forward Mandzukic scored Croatia’s third goal with a header from a corner kick putting the Croats out of sight against 10-man Cameroon.
A rampant Croatia could not be stopped. The 'Vatreni' increased the gap to four in the 73rd minute with Mandzukic pouncing on the ball in the penalty box after his teammate Eduardo's shot was rebounded by Itandje, 4-0.
After the heavy loss, Cameroon were knocked out of the tournament with a game to spare.
Results in Group A are as follows:
Brazil: 0 - Mexico: 0
Cameroon: 0 - Croatia: 4
After second matches in Group A standings are as follows:
| Teams | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
| Brazil |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
| Mexico |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
| Croatia |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
| Cameroon |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
www.aa.com.tr/en
