Cameroon and Serbia played out an entertaining 3-3 draw to leave Group G wide open for qualification
Thousands of fans at the Al Janoub Stadium and millions watching from around the world were thrilled to a fantastic game of football between Cameroon and Serbia.
Both teams were hoping to bounce back from opening-round defeats with a positive result but would have to settle for a share of the spoils after a chaotic 90 minutes of football which ended 3-3.
The calm before the storm
The potential game of the tournament between Cameroon and Serbia started on a calm note without any fireworks in the opening exchanges.
Serbia dominated possession and controlled the game for long stretches but found it difficult to penetrate the Cameroonian defence with an unfamiliar face in goal.
But it was Cameroon who took the lead against the run of play through a corner kick as Nicholas Nkoulou flicked on the cross for Jean-Charles Castelletto to tap home at the back post to open the scoring in the 29th minute with his first international goal.
Seismic Serbia
Serbia responded well to conceding by turning up the pressure and their persistence paid off eventually with two late goals in the first half stoppage time to turn the game on its head.
Strahinja Pavlović connected with Dusan Tadic’s cross with a powerful header to equalise in the first minute of stoppage time.
Two minutes later, Serbia took the lead through Sergej Milinković-Savić’s low shot, giving the Cameroonians a lot to worry about going into the interval.
The Cameroonian problems would soon be compounded by Aleksandar Mitrovic who tapped home from close range in the 53rd minute to make it 3-1 to Serbia and seemingly wrap up all three points…or so they thought.
Courageous Cameroon
Two minutes after conceding, Cameroon coach Rigobert Song brought on Vincent Aboubakar seemingly to fulfil all righteousness and give the veteran striker game time but he would turn out to be the catalyst for a dramatic comeback.
Aboubakar gave Cameroon hope in the 63rd minute by pulling one back after beating the offside trap and scooping a shot over Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.
Three minutes later, the Al-Janoub stadium was stunned as Cameroon equalised when Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting tapped home Aboubakar’s square pass.
Cameroon’s courageous approach after going two goals down was what turned the game around and enable them to pick up their first point of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Pulse
