Mexico overcame the setback of two disallowed first-half goals to eventually beat Cameroon 1-0 in their World Cup opener at the Estadio das Dunas this evening.
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Giovani dos Santos had twice been wrongly denied by the officials before Oribe Peralta gave them the lead that they deserved with a simple 61st-minute rebound.
Cameroon left it until late to change to an attacking approach in their search for an equaliser, but Mexico saw out the final few minutes to go level with Brazil at the top of Group A.
The African nation initially set up cautiously, with a gameplan to seemingly make the most of set pieces, which they did in the early stages as Mexico's defence survived some shaky moments.
Cameroon enjoyed their fair share of luck too, though, to the detriment of Dos Santos, who was level with the last man when he was adjudged offside after smartly guiding Hector Herrera's 11th-minute cross home.
The Villarreal attacker, who was preferred in attack to Manchester United poacher Javier Hernandez, was frustrated again before the half-hour mark when the linesman denied him for a second time.
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He converted from close range after a corner had been flicked to the back post, but the Colombian official incorrectly deemed the deflection to have come off a Cameroon shirt and therefore raised his flag.
In between Mexico's moments of misfortune, Cameroon had a rare venture forward as Samuel Eto'o's shot clipped the post.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto's run and cross had provided the Chelsea striker with his chance, and the left-back came close himself after the break with a free kick which struck the wall and looped narrowly wide.
Mexico's luck changed just past the hour as Dos Santos was found in space between the two centre-backs. Charles Itandje did well to block his shot, but Peralta swooped to knock home from 12 yards.
Nicolas N'Koulou's last-ditch block prevented Dos Santos from finally getting his name on the scoresheet late on, while substitute Hernandez blazed over in stoppage time when found unmarked by Miguel Layun.
His miss meant that Cameroon were still in the game until the final whistle, and they would have equalised had Guillermo Ochoa not produced a crucial diving save to keep out Benjamin Moukandjo's header.
Joe Fish
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