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After they both lost the opening game of the 2022 World Cup, Cameroon and Serbia needed a win to give a boost to their hopes to qualify for the Round of 16 of the competition. It led to a very open game but, even if they went after the win really hard, they failed and the game ended with a 3-3 draw. Six goals and a lot of things happened in the opening game of Monday’s action, but Serbia and Cameroon will have to wait for the match between Brazil and Switzerland to figure out what their chances are of qualifying for the next round.
Before the match started, big news hit the media and the fans as Cameroon’s goalkeeper and one of their biggest stars Andre Onana was removed by the squad, as reported by CBS insider Fabrizio Romano. The reason of this unexpected decision is considered to be a discussion with head coach Rigobert Song as he insisted for different style of goalkeeping than Onana preferred. Onana is expected to leave Qatar and won’t be part of this squad for the remainder of the tournament.
When the game started Serbia seemed to be in much better shape, as striker Aleksandar Mitrovic missed two big opportunities to score the opening goal, and also hit the post in the first stretch of the match. However, Cameroon found the way to score the opener with a header over defender Jean-Charles Castelletto. Serbia continued to play in the same way, but failed to score until the very last end of the first half.
Right into the first minutes of stoppage time, Serbia scored twice in less than three minutes with another header of defender Strahinja Pavlovic and a nice shot of midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic from outside the box. The teams went into the dressing room with Serbia in control of the game and Cameroon with some big regrets.
It seemed to be over after Mitrovic scored the third for Serbia right after the second half started, but Cameroon managed to keep their chances alive and scored twice in less than five minutes with striker Vincent Aboubakar who was just subbed in and then found an equalizer with Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting when only few believed that the miracle could happen.
The match was very open until the last few minutes, but both teams failed to score the winning goal of the day and this final draw is a very positive news for Brazil and Switzerland who will face each other later Monday at 11 a.m. On Friday at 2 p.m. Brazil will play against Cameroon, while Serbia will face Switzerland.