DOHA —
Cameroon kept their hopes of making the last 16 of the World Cup alive on
Monday after fighting back from two goals down to draw a thrilling Group G
encounter with Serbia 3–3.
اضافة اعلان
Rigobert Song’s
team looked almost dead and buried after goals from Strahinja Pavlovic, Sergej
Milinkovic-Savic and Aleksandar Mitrovic gave Serbia a 3–1 lead early in the
second half.
But substitute
Vincent Aboubakar and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting snatched a draw with two
quick-fire strikes just after the hour mark to leave both Cameroon and Serbia
on a single point, two behind group leaders Brazil and Switzerland.
Had they lost,
Cameroon would have been relying on the Swiss beating Brazil in order to not be
eliminated with a game to spare, but instead the west Africans still have a
chance of getting out of the group stage for the first time since 1990.
Cameroon have a
tough task ahead as they play Brazil in their final match, which according to
reports they will play without first-choice goalkeeper Andre Onana who was
dropped from the matchday squad just hours before kick-off following an
unspecified disciplinary issue.
Media reports
suggest that Onana has been sent home from the World Cup after a disagreement
with Song, but that pre-match turmoil didn’t stop Cameroon putting in a
fighting display against a Serbia team who probably deserved to win on the
balance of play.
Mitrovic was
almost invisible in Serbia’s defeat to Brazil but here he was involved from kick-off,
the Fulham forward unlucky not to give Serbia the lead in the 11th minute when
he crashed a shot off the post from a tight angle following a neat exchange of
passes with Dusan Tadic.
Cameroon comeback
But Mitrovic only had himself to blame for not opening the scoring six
minutes later, shanking an awful first-time finish wide when, after a mix up in
the Cameroon defense, the ball dropped at his feet with only Onana’s
replacement Devis Epassy to beat.
And Castelletto
punished the Serbs for Mitrovic’s miss in the 29th minute with the simplest of
finishes after ghosting in at the back post to meet Nicolas Nkoulou’s flick-on
at a corner.
Pierre Kunde then
passed up a golden opportunity to double Cameroon’s lead in the 43rd minute
when he first shot straight at goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic and then
smashed the rebound wide.
It was Cameroon’s
turn to be undone at a set-piece as the half crept into first-half stoppage
time when Pavlovic brilliantly headed home Dusan Tadic’s floated free-kick.
The Serbs’ tails
were up and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic flipped the match on its head two minutes
later with a superb left-footed finish after Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa
sloppily gave the ball away just outside his own penalty area.
Mitrovic finally
had the goal his strong display deserved seven minutes after the break, tapping
in Andrija Zivkovic’s pass unopposed at the end of beautiful move guided by
Milinkovic-Savic and Tadic.
The match looked
over but from nowhere Cameroon sprung back into life thanks to Aboubakar’s odd
goal.
The Al-Nassr
forward raced through onto Castelletto’s launched pass over the top and scooped
an improbable finish over the Serbia ‘keeper, beaming with delight after his
goal was awarded following a VAR check.
Aboubakar’s pace
caused Serbia all kinds of problems and he laid on Choupo-Moting’s leveler,
bursting down the right and laying on a simple finish for the Bayern Munich
forward, which sparked wild celebrations on the pitch and in the stands.
Neither side could find a
winner in an end-to-end finish to the game and their bids to make the knockouts
will go down to the final game.
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