Thanks to a superb second period, Cameroon dodged a humiliating 9th defeat in a row in the final phase of the World Cup, and thus avoided joining Mexico, which holds the record in this area. Rigobert Song’s men, carried by a twirling Vincent Aboubakar, snatched the draw against Serbia (2-2) during the 2nd day of group G. But not sure that this statistic relieves the Cameroonians. Deprived of their goalkeeper André Onana, who was surprised to leave the group before facing Serbia for disciplinary reasons, the Indomitable Lions must now beat Brazil in the last match of group G and count on favorable results. Not easy. But, we have witnessed one of the most beautiful matches since the start of the competition.
In fact, beaten on the first day, the two teams begin the meeting with an attacking state of mind. Serbian striker Aleksandr Mitrovic misses the opener twice. The Fulham goleador (43 league goals last season, 9 Premier League goals this season) touched the right post of the Cameroonian goalkeeper (10th) then did not target his right foot shot from six meters (17th). The Cameroonians hunker down before stinging on their first chance through Jean-Charles Castelletto. Following a corner, the former central defender of Red Star, lonely at the far post, takes advantage of a header from Nkoulou to push the leather into the back of the net (1-0, 28th).
The Indomitable Lions then narrowly miss the break but Kunde’s shot is pushed back by Vania Milikovic-Savic (40′). This is the first turning point of the game. The Serbs indeed reversed the trend in two minutes during added time in the first act. On a free kick from Tadic, Strahinja Pavlovic dominates Frank Anguissa and places a superb crossed header in the small net (1-1, 45th + 1). In the aftermath, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic executes a strike with the right foot from twenty meters which deceives Epassy (1-2, 45th + 3). The Cameroonians are not recovering from this missed end of the first period and concede a 3rd goal after returning from the locker room following a superb collective action concluded closely by Mitrovic (1-3, 53rd).
We then think the match bent. But the Vincent Aboubakar show starts. Entering the game in the 55th minute in place of Martin Hongla, the former advent-center of Valenciennes (2010-2013) and Lorient (2013-2014) first reduced the score following a delicious ladle at the entered the area under the bar (2-3, 63rd) before delivering an offering for Choupo-Moting who did not miss the target (3-3, 66th). Despite a few offensives on both sides, the score is no longer changing and does not suit the two teams who have a single point in the standings after two games. Their hopes of qualifying for the round of 16 are seriously dwindling – especially for Cameroon – ahead of their final group game on Friday.
