Croatia eliminate Cameroon

Ivica Olic got the scoring started for Croatia in the 11th minute against Cameroon and Ivan Perisic scored at the start of the second half as their team cruised in a critical 4-0 Group A victory. Mario Mandzukic returned to Croatia's lineup and scored twice to put the game away.

Cameroon played the game with 10 players after Alex Song was given a red card for a hard foul on Mandzukic in the 40th minute. At that point, the game had been fairly balanced in terms of possession, though Croatia had the better of the scoring chances.

The early second-half goal from Perisic seemed to suck the life out of Cameroon, whose World Cup will be over after a final group stage game against host Brazil on Monday.

The game saw one star return and one sit out. Croatia's Mandzukic, who was serving a suspension dating back to his team's November qualification playoff against Iceland, returned and looked sharp throughout. Cameroon's comeback chances were hindered by the loss of Samuel Eto'o, who's been struggling with a knee injury since the end of the Premier League season.

The win puts Croatia in a decent position to advance to the round of 16 if they can beat Mexico in their final game on Monday.