Cameroon kept their World Cup hopes alive on Monday by drawing 3-3 with Serbia in a thrilling Group G matchup after coming back from two goals down. After goals from Strahinja Pavlovic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, and Aleksandar Mitrovic gave Serbia a 3-1 lead early in the second half, Rigobert Song’s team appeared to be almost dead.
However, substitutes Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Vincent Aboubakar salvaged a draw shortly after the hour mark to leave Serbia and Cameroon on a single point, two behind group leaders Brazil and Switzerland.
Cameroon still has a chance of making it out of the group stage for the first time since 1990 if they win. If they had lost, they would have been relying on Switzerland defeating Brazil to avoid elimination with one game left. Instead, the west Africans still have a chance of doing so.
According to reports, Cameroon will face Brazil in their final match without first-choice goalkeeper Andre Onana, who was removed from the matchday squad just hours before kickoff due to an unspecified disciplinary matter.
According to media reports, Onana has been sent home from the World Cup following a disagreement with Song. However, the pre-match drama did not stop Cameroon from playing a determined game against a Serbian team that probably deserved to win the game.
In Serbia’s loss to Brazil, Mitrovic was almost invisible, but in this match, he was involved from the start. The Fulham forward missed the opportunity to give Serbia the lead in the 11th minute when he shot off the post from a tight angle after a neat pass exchange with Dusan Tadic.
– Cameroon comeback –
Mitrovic only had himself to blame for not scoring six minutes later. He missed a terrible first-time shot wide when the ball fell at his feet with only Devis Epassy, Onana’s replacement, to beat after a mixup in the Cameroon defense.
After ghosting in at the back post to meet Nicolas Nkoulou’s flick-on at a corner, Castelletto completed the simplest of finishes to punish the Serbs for Mitrovic’s miss in the 29th minute.
In the 43rd minute, Pierre Kunde missed a chance to double Cameroon’s lead when he shot straight at Vanja Milinkovic-Savic and then smashed the rebound wide.
When Pavlovic brilliantly headed home a floated free kick from Dusan Tadic as the half entered first-half stoppage time, it was Cameroon’s turn to lose at a set-piece.
After Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa threw the ball away erratically just outside his own penalty area, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic scored with a superb left-footed finish to turn the game on its head two minutes later.
Seven minutes after the break, Mitrovic scored by unopposedly converting Andrija Zivkovic’s pass at the end of a beautiful move coached by Milinkovic-Savic and Tadic.
The match appeared to be over, but Aboubakar’s bizarre goal brought Cameroon back to life out of nowhere.
After the goal was awarded after a VAR check, the Al Nassr forward raced through onto Castelletto’s launched pass over the top and scored an unlikely goal over the Serbia goalkeeper.
Aboubakar’s pace caused Serbia a lot of problems, and he scored the equalizer for Bayern Munich forward Choupo-Moting by bursting down the right and finishing it easily. This goal sparked wild celebrations on the field and in the stands.
In the event that the game was to be played out end-to-end, neither team would be able to emerge victorious, and their chances of reaching the knockout stages will be decided by the outcome of the final match.