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SCOREBOARD

Serbia bury two goals in stoppage time, lead Cameroon at half

Nicolas Nkoulou Cameroon Nicolas Nkoulou - The Canadian Press
Published

Disaster struck for Cameroon in stoppage time, as they conceded two goals in two minutes and trail Serbia 2-1 at half time. 

A chaotic six minutes of stoppage time resulted in two goals for the Serbian side, with their second, which gave them a 2-1 lead, coming off the foot of Sergej Milinkovic-Savic at the top of the crease. 

Serbia earned their first goal of the match on a beautiful set piece play: a free kick from Dusan Tadic found the head of Strahinja Pavlovic in the crease, and his header was perfect as he deposited the ball into the top left corner of the net to even the score at one. 

In the dying minutes of the first half, Pierre Kunde broke free of the Serbian defence and charged with blazing pace, but his shot in the crease was straight at the goalkeeper. Serbia controlled possession for the most part in the first half, though Cameroon did generate quite a few opportunities as well. 

The Serbian side built another strong possession in the Cameroonian side, but the final pass to Dusan Tadic at the top of the crease was kicked off target and sailed harmlessly out of bounds. 

Serbia conceded a corner kick in the 28th minute on a careless pass from the defence back towards the keeper, and Cameroon made them pay dearly when the ball squeaked through the crease and found Jean-Charles Castelletto at the back post for his first career international goal.  

Nicolas Nkoulou was shown the first card of the match, when he received a yellow for his aggressive challenge on defence in the 24th minute. 

Kunde took a spirited charge down the right flank with the ball that caught Serbia off guard, and his strong shot necessitated a good save from Serbia's Vanja Milinkovic-Savic. 

Serbia were almost gifted a goal in the 16th minute, when the ball took a couple of wild bounces as Cameroon attempted to clear out of their own danger zone and found its way to Aleksandar Mitrovic, who fired a shot hard but wide, and the score remained 0-0. 

Mitrovic took the first great chance of the match in the 10th minute, when he shook the defence inside the opposing crease, and his shot beat the goalkeeper - but not the post, as it rolled out to safety.

The first chance on goal of the match came in the fifth minute, when a cross found a Serbian head in the Cameroonian crease, but the ball sailed just over the cross bar. 

Serbia's Mitrovic required a stoppage in play in the first minute to receive treatment from the medical staff for an ankle injury, but he was able to return to the pitch not long after.