Cameroon put up a brave fight today to secure their first point of the Qatar 2022 World Cup with a 3-3 draw against Serbia at the Al Janoub Stadium.
The Indomitable Lions looked dead and buried after seeing their 1-0 lead turn into a 3-1 deficit, but they pulled it back to 3-3 to keep their slim hopes of advancing to the round of 16 just alive.
Vincent Aboubakar was the catalyst of the comeback, coming off the bench to rescue his side by scoring one superb goal and creating another.
Cameroon had started the game with controversy as their first-choice goalkeeper Andre Onana was dropped and replaced with the relatively inexperienced Devis Epassy ostensibly because he refused to follow head coach Rigobert Song’s instructions.
Still, the Central Africans started brightly and took the lead through Jean-Charles Castelletto in the 29th minute.
They however lost concentration towards the end of the opening period and conceded twice in two added-time minutes.
Strahinja Pavlovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic both struck in first-half stoppage time to give the Serbs the lead into half-time.
Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic netted eight minutes after the break to give Serbia a seemingly unassailable lead and their first win of the tournament after last week’s 2-0 defeat to Brazil.
Cameroon had other ideas though, and the introduction of Aboubakar sparked them back to life.
The Saudi Arabia-based striker came on in the 55th minute and pulled a goal back for Cameroon with a brilliant scooped chip over the Serbia goalkeeper in the 63rd minute.
Aboubakar then set up Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting to draw the Indomitable Lions level three minutes later.
This is the first time ever Cameroon have scored three goals in a World Cup game.
With the draw, Cameroon ended a run of eight consecutive World Cup defeats.
The result means both sides need to win their final Group G games to stand a chance of progressing to the knockout stages, with Cameroon facing Brazil on Friday when Serbia play Switzerland.
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