Cameroon forward Vincent Aboubakar has turned the game on its head at World Cup 2022 against Serbia with an audacious lob.
The captain of the Indomitable Lions was brought on with the game at 3-1 – and surely thought that he was offside when he ran beyond the Serbian defence and attempted the cheekiest of lobs. The goal stood, however – and before Aboubakar repeated the trick.
The striker once again beat the offside trap and managed to play in Brentford's Bryan Mbeumo for the equaliser. ITV commentator, Seb Hutchinson, has already labelled this one "a classic".
Aleksandar Mitrovic had Fulham fans holding their breath after a minute of the game, landing awkwardly from a very early challenge – but recovered within the first 10 minutes to strike the inside of Devis Epassy’s goal. Epassy was a shock inclusion to the line-up, replacing Inter Milan custodian Andre Onana, after the Cameroonian No.1 fell out with his manager over compromising his play style. 16 minutes in, Mitrovic would have been furious with himself for not testing the Indomitable Lions’ inexperienced custodian, scuffing a gilt-edged opportunity wide after the Cameroonian defence failed to clear the ball.
Around 28 minutes, Cameroon managed to surprise Serbia against the run of play. When a corner was whipped into the mixer, Nantes defender Jean-Charles Castelletto reacted first to stab the ball home from close range for his first international goal. Serbia started to pile the pressure on in response – and just after the half-hour mark, goalkeeper Epassy almost dropped a catch in front of Serbia No.10 Dusan Tadic when the ball flew into his area.
Serbia dominated for much of the first half and in added time, they got their reward. Red Bull Salzburg defender Strahinja Pavlovic managed to outjump Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa to nod a free-kick into the back of the net before Sergej Milinkovic-Savic added the second with an excellent drive from outside the area. Minutes before, too, midfielder Pierre Kunde – who didn’t feature in the opening match – maybe could have doubled the lead, after he had an effort across the goalkeeper saved, reacted first to the rebound and couldn’t direct it on target.
Aleksandar Mitrovic then scored a beautiful team goal before Aboubakar's incredible finish.
