Cameroon rally for 3-3 draw with Serbia

Cameroon kept alive their faint hopes of reaching the FIFA World Cup round of 16 after substitute Vincent Aboubakar inspired a breathless comeback in a 3-3 draw with Serbia at the Al Janoub Stadium in Doha, Qatar yesterday.

It is a result that probably does not help either side, but Serbia will certainly be wondering how they allowed a two-goal lead to evaporate after Aleksandar Mitrovic had put them in a commanding position.

Cameroon took the lead against the run of play as Jean-Charles Castelletto peeled away from Andrija Zivkovic to prod home from on the goal line at the far post following a flicked-on corner.

There were two minutes and 30 seconds between both Serbia goals on the stroke of half time as Cameroon was punished for their lapse in concentration.

Strahinja Pavlovic rose unmarked to meet Dusan Tadic’s set piece to find the bottom corner and the turnaround was complete when Sergej Milinkovic-Savic collected Zivkovic’s pass to bury his left-foot shot beyond stand-in goalkeeper Devis Epassy.

Mitrovic extended Serbia’s lead following a fabulous team move early in the second half, but after Aboubakar’s outrageous dinked finish had halved the deficit, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting completed the comeback from close range shortly after. (C.D)