LIONS IMPRESS

Cameroon keep hopes alive after Serbia fight-back

Cameroon took the lead through Jean-Charles Castelletto but Strahinja Pavlovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic hit back for Serbia before half time.

In Summary

• Mitrovic curled a shot wide in the closing moments after being teed up by Dusan Tadic.

• Both sides lost their opening match so the result leaves them two points adrift of Brazil and Switzerland, who meet later on Monday.

Pierre Kunde (L) of Cameroon shoots during a 2022 Fifa World Cup Group G match against Serbia at the at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah, Qatar on November 28
Pierre Kunde (L) of Cameroon shoots during a 2022 Fifa World Cup Group G match against Serbia at the at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah, Qatar on November 28
Image: XINHUA

Cameroon kept their hopes alive of reaching the World Cup last 16 after battling back from two goals down to draw a six-goal thriller with Serbia in Group G.

Cameroon took the lead through Jean-Charles Castelletto but Strahinja Pavlovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic replied to give Serbia a half-time advantage.

Aleksandar Mitrovic added a third for Serbia and they looked to be cruising to a win that would have put them in a strong position to progress.

However the Indomitable Lions roared back thanks to Vincent Aboubakar's superb lob and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting's equaliser three minutes later.

Mitrovic curled a shot wide in the closing moments after being teed up by Dusan Tadic.

Both sides lost their opening match so the result leaves them two points adrift of Brazil and Switzerland, who meet later on Monday (16:00 GMT).

In arguably the tournament's most entertaining game so far, Serbia started brightly and Mitrovic twice went close to giving his side the lead. The Fulham striker hit the post before flashing a shot wide after the ball fell kindly to him in the box.

Cameroon took the lead against the run of play when Nicolas N'Koulou flicked on a corner and Castelletto tapped home from close range for his first international goal.

Serbia did not panic though and turned the game on its head in first-half stoppage time.

Pavlovic headed Serbia's first World Cup goal in 335 minutes of play before Milinkovic-Savic beat Cameroon keeper Devis Epassy, who was playing after Andre Onana was dropped for disciplinary reasons.