Cameroon and Serbia played out one of the games of the tournament in Monday’s early kick-off.
Just when they were on the verge of becoming the most domitable of all FIFA World Cup teams, the African side showed that their Indomitable Lions moniker actually does carry some meaning. From 3-1 down, they claimed a 3-3 draw with Serbia in Al Wakrah on Monday which keeps their group G campaign alive and means they avoid collecting an unwanted title.
Defeat to Serbia would have seen Rigobert Song’s outfit draw level with Mexico’s run between 1930 and 1958 by losing a ninth successive World Cup finals game, with five-time champions and 2022 favourites Brazil to come in their next match. But having seemingly thrown the game away once, they battled back with second-half goals from substitute Vincent Aboubakar and Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting in the space of less than three minutes.
Here are three things we learned from the encounter.
Aboubakar excels again
As sporting comebacks go, Vincent Aboubakar’s heroics in the game has to be up there with the very best. After battling with injury problems, the forward was thrown in after the interval with Cameroon trailing the Serbs.
He was an irritating presence for the Serbian defence throughout, Aboubakar drove forward at will, creating chances and made life difficult for his opponents. By a quirk of fate, he scored to reduce Cameroon’s deficit and assisted Choupo-Moting’s goal to salvage a point for the Africans.
He was, for all intents and purposes, the main catalyst for a largely inspiring drawn game. Sentiment only gets you so far in football, but Aboubakar is in the Camerron side on merit- and was one of the key performers for the Indomitable Lions once again.
Cameroon now faced with a must-win game against Brazil
With their drawn game with Serbia, Cameroon next play Brazil in a must-win encounter to better their chances of advancing to the next phase of the competition. Their game against Brazil is now huge for Song and Cameroon. The Indomitable Lions could, feasibly, be knocked out of the competition should they lose or draw to/with the South Americans.
It looks cagey for Song but he’ll need to find a way to secure three points against the Neymar-led team if he is to have any chance at all of seeing his side in the last 16. As must-win matches go, it’s right up there.
Song’s second half changes upped the tempo of the game but wasn't enough
Cameroon played with diffidence in the first half of the game. They look tired and unfocused-things weren't sticking. Song spotted the issues with movement and changed things after the break.
Bassogog brought stability to the midfield with Aboubakar making the attack sharper than it was in the first half. They rarely let their guard down and stayed compact enough to recover if they did.
