Cameroon came back from two goals behind as they produced one of the high-scoring World Cup scores of the weekend action. Although neither team will benefit much from the outcome, Serbia will undoubtedly be perplexed as to how they let a two-goal advantage slip away at the Al Janoub Stadium after Aleksandar Mitrovic had put them in a strong position. Jean-Charles Castelletto outran Andrija Zivkovic to prod home from on the goal line at the far post after a flicked-on corner as Cameroon took the lead against the flow of play.
After 10 minutes, Mitrovic could have opened the scoring for Serbia, which had lost both of its World Cup matches against African opponents as an independent nation, but instead, he curled the ball against the post. Five minutes later, N’Koulou’s shoddy clearance ricochet back to the Fulham striker, giving him an even better opportunity. However, Mitrovic dragged his shot off target, and Serbia suffered as Castelletto was left unmarked to score the opening goal.
In first-half stoppage time, Cameroon would mysteriously lose all form and composure as Pavlovic and Milinkovic-Savic both scored. Three minutes into the extra time, two minutes after Pavlovic’s header had negated Castelletto’s tap-in, Milinkovic-left-footed Savic’s shot repaid Cameroon for some poor defending. Serbia became the first side to score twice in first-half added time in a World Cup game, and it took 148 seconds between them doing so against Cameroon.
Serbia’s third was a masterfully constructed one that Mitrovic started and finished. Aboubakar was unexpectedly left out of the starting lineup after being left out against Switzerland, but he came up big to cut the deficit in half. In their 1-0 loss to Switzerland, Choupo-Moting was the only player to make more than one attempt, but the forward scored his first World Cup goal in his seventh game. Serbia’s high line was penetrated for the second time in 150 seconds, but the Bayern Munich striker held his ground and managed to sweep home Aboubakar’s cross at the far post.
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