Cameroon rally to hold Serbia
Cameroon kept their hopes of making the last 16 of the World Cup alive on Monday ater fighting back from two goals down to draw a thrilling Group G encounter with Serbia 3-3.
Rigobert Song’s team looked almost dead and buried ater 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 ater 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 geting 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 they will reportedly 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 ater a disagreement with Song, but that pre-match turmoil didn’t stop Cameroon puting in a fighting display against a Serbia team who probably deserved to win on the balance of play.
Askedbyafpwhetherhewouldstartcameroon’s final match, Onana’s replacement Devis Epassy said “you’ll have to ask the coach” and insisted there was no problem in the camp.
Serbia meanwhile have to hope Brazil beat the Swiss, otherwise qualification will be taken out of their hands in the final round of Group G fixtures.
“We wanted all three points, we wanted to start this tournament with a win so it’s hard to take,” said substitute Marko Grujic.
“We need to take this point and watch the Brazil game tonight, hope that they win and then we hope to win against Switzerland.”
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, ater a mix-up in the Cameroon defence, the ball dropped at his feet with only Epassy to beat.
And Jean-charles Castelleto punished the Serbs for Mitrovic’s miss in the 29th minute with the simplest of finishes ater 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 and it was Cameroon’s turn to be undone at a set-piece when Pavlovic brilliantly headed home Tadic’s floated free-kick.
Serbia’s tails were up and Milinkovic-savic flipped the match on its head two minutes later with a superb let-footed finish ater 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 ater the break, tapping in Andrija Zivkovic’s pass unopposed at the end of a beautiful move guided by Milinkovic-savic and Tadic.
The match looked over but from nowhere Cameroon sprang back into life thanks to Aboubakar’s odd goal.
The Al Nassr forward raced through onto Castelleto’s launched pass over the top and scooped an improbable finish over the Serbia ‘keeper, beaming with delight ater his goal was awarded following a VAR check.
Aboubakar’s pace caused Serbia all kinds of problems and he laid on Choupo-moting’s leveller, 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-toend finish to the game and their bids to make the knockouts will go down to the final game.
Onana could still play in Cameroon’s final World Cup group game with Brazil despite being banished from the squad for Monday’s thrilling 3-3 draw with Serbia, Song said.
However Song said that Onana has not been completely dismissed from contention for the Brazil match, saying that “it depends on him” whether he will be brought back into the fold but not saying what had caused the row.
“He is an important player but what I have to do in my role is think about the group as a whole rather than just individuals,” Song told reporters.
“Right now we are working with those who want to defend the our country’s colours, what interests me are the players who are here.
“I’ve asked him to wait, we will have the opportunity to see if he can stay (at the World Cup). It also depends on him as he will also have to obey our rules. Let’s see if that’s possible.”
Cameroon have to beat Brazil in order to progress to the knockout stages for the first time since 1990 and Song believes his team have what it takes to defeat the five-time world champions.
“We believe we can do it against Brazil,” Song added.