The Eagles of Serbia on Monday failed terribly to dominate the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon as both teams ended an all-important second match in Group G 3-3.
Qatar 2022: Cameroonian cages Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in lone goal loss to Switzerland
One significant move was that Serbia scored two goals within two minutes and Cameroon gave a stout reply also scoring two goals within two minutes.
Jean – Charles Castelleto opened scoring for Cameroon from a Nicolas N’Koulou assist in the 29th minute before over lapping defender, Strahinja Pavlovic collecting a pass from Dusau Tadic scored the equalizer 45+1 minute but before they could withdraw for half time, Milinkovic-Savic registered the second goal in the 45+3rd minute for Serbia.
Striker Aleksander Milrovic dazed Cameroon with the 3rd goal in the 53rd minute before the Lions realized it is no good to snooze off riding a bicycle as Vincent Aboubakar who Nigerians love to call baba Aboubakar because of his bald head was introduced to the game and a drastic change that discomforted the Eagles of Serbia (former Yugoslavia) began. Aboubakar was the highest goal scorer at the last African Cup of Nations hosted by Cameroon.
The offside trap technique of Serbia failed two vital times for ‘locomotive engine’ Aboubakar collected a pass from wonderful Castelleto 63rd minute for Cameroon’s second goal and just as the Serbian players were still exchanging blames, the offside trap lock was again decoded by Choupo-Mating who scored the equalizer at 64th minute to make it 3-3.
It was tough for both sides with Cameroon having 8 shots on target and 2 off target whereas Serbia had 6 shots on target and 7 off target meaning both sides were desperate to dress down each other with goals. The Serbs were more anxious as they were caught offside 4 times to Cameroon zero by Ref Mohammed Abdulla Hassan of UAE who officiated the Spain versus Costa Rica match where Spain scored the highest team goals in a match 7-0.
The enormous pressure made Serbia concede 13 fouls to Cameroon’s 8; from where 2 yellow cards were given each side and 4 corner kicks went to Cameroon and 3 to Serbia.
The only time the two countries met in 2010 in a friendly match, Serbia won 4-3.
Both teams lost their first round matches in Group G with Serbia in 0-2 loss to the Samba boys of Brazil and the Switzerland that subdued Cameroon by a lone goal; both matches were played last Thursday 24th November.
With the outstanding match between Brazil and Switzerland slated for 5pm, Brazil is leading the Group table with 3 points and +2 goals difference; Switzerland is second with 3 points and +1 goals difference; Cameroon is 3rd with one point and -1 goals difference while Serbia is 4th with one point but -2 goals difference.
The final group matches will be between the Cameroonian Lions and the Samba boys of Brazil and Serbian Eagles facing Switzerland with both matches played at 2000 hours West African Time on Friday 1st December.
Eniola Olatunji reporting.
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