Mayes Yousef
Cameroon and Serbia clashed in the first Group G match of the day at Al Janoub Stadium.
With meeting only once in an international friendly in 2010, these two teams made an unusual pairing at this year’s World Cup. Serbia were hungry for a goal from the get-go.
Aleksander Mitrovic came close in securing a goal for Serbia in the 11th minute of the match and again in the 17th minute, but the Serbian side was finding it hard to penetrate Cameroon’s defence.
However, Cameron beat them to a goal when Jean-Charles Castelletto scored from close-range after a corner. Cameroon substitute Christian Bassogog, who was on the bench got a yellow card for goal-celebration.
At this point, Cameroon is leading a World Cup game for the first time since 2010, with Serbia clearly frustrated. During the 45+3 minute, Dusan Tadic directed the ball to Strahinja Pavlovic, who headed it home, just before half time. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic then went on to score again for Serbia. In extra time, Mitrovic shoots but misses, just wide of the near post. Cameroon kicked-off the second half of the match.
During the 53rd minute, Milinkovic-Savic could have shot himself but chose to pass to Mitrovic, who simply and effortlessly passed the ball into the net. After the goal, Cameroon went on to make an indoor song change by substituting Martin Hongla for Vincent Aboubakar, as Cameroon’s center-men continued to struggle in the second half of the match. Mere minutes after hitting the pitch, Aboubakar goes on to score after he swiftly passed Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, in the 63rd minute of the match.
However, he didn’t even celebrate the goal as it went in as he was expecting it to be offside. Nevertheless, a VAR check confirmed the goal to be onside.
Aboubakar closes the gap on Serbia’s lead before Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting taps in a second goal three minutes later.
There were a few attempts by the Serbian side to go ahead of Cameroon, including Mitrovic’s near-hit shot in the 89th minute. Tadic’s last attempt to advance ahead of Cameroon included a play to Mitrovic with the striker normally taking these chances, but hits this one over and out of play.
With the match ending in a 3-3 draw, both teams will stay alive in the competition.