Serbia and Cameroon came face to face at Al Janoub Stadium for their second fixture of Group G on November 28, 2022, at 15:30 pm IST. The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 witnessed another fight for survival. Both teams were goalless in their previous matches, with a 2-0 loss for Serbia against Brazil and a 1-0 loss for Cameroon against Switzerland.
It was purely the goal difference that kept Cameroon on the higher side for the third spot.
That did not matter, just like the yellow card which went on the register in the name of Nicolas Nikoulou in the 24th minute. Jean-Charles Castelletto scored a single goal anyway in the 29th minute. Tolo dropped the ball from the corner for Jean to take a kick from closer range.
No matter the distance, Cameroon gained the much-needed winning edge against the defensive stretch of Pavlovic, Velijkovic, and Milenkovic. Milinkovic-Savic lost sight of the shot, putting weight on the teammates to first balance the scoreboard and then hit the winner.
Following the shot on target for a point, Cameroon landed another yellow card for Bassogog’s over-excited celebration.
Kunde went in during the 42nd minute only to be pushed back by Savic. Not taking it well, Kunde vented out with a far wide to again miss the shot. The midfielder had the option to look around for assistance before rebounding a skillful save.
A lesson was then dropped by Pavlovic, showing another way to score. The extra 6 minutes after the usual 45 saw the defender take a huge header for the score. That could have been the only moment, but it was not. Serbia went for the winning edge in the extra itself after Sergej Milinkovic-Savic took a successful shot with the assistance of Zivkovic.
Despite going goalless against Brazil, Serbia showed the potential of taking advantage after pressurizing their opponent. Halftime favored Serbia as it all came down to 2-1 for them.
The first meeting between the two since June 2010, friendly indeed, came at an interesting turn. Fun fact, Serbia won that match 4-3.
Turns out, Serbia was once again on that winning route. Aleksandar Mitrovic held on to the assistance of A. Zivkovic in the 53rd minute. Ball danced in Cameroon’s backyard for a while before being sliced by Zivkovic. Aleksandar Mitrovic merely showed the direction. It was enough to keep it away from Epassy, who got lost in the crowd and gave him his 7th goal in the last 6 international appearances for the side.
61-ish minute gave Milinkovic-Savic an easy catch before losing it to Cameroon in the 64th minute. Vincent Aboubakar converted an empty space to the scoring field. Earlier declared offside, VAR overturned that decision to reward Vincent for the easy kick.
Three minutes later, Stojkovic’s side managed to balance with 3 each. Choupo-Moting netted the assistance of V. Aboubakar from a close range. The last time Cameroon scored more than a single goal in the World Cup was in 1994 against Sweden. The final result was 2 each for a draw.
Time changed, and so did the number of goals. The event concluded with a 3-3 for Serbia and Cameroon.
Cameroon will next face Brazil, while Serbia goes head-to-head with Switzerland.
