World Cup: Kamikaze Cameroon beat Brazil ‘B’ but bid farewell
It was a fairly one-sided contest, as the 11-3 corner count in favour of Brazil indicates.
Already assured of making it to the knockout stage, Brazil effectively fielded their second side (9 changes) against Cameroon in this final Group G encounter.
However, a Brazilian third string team would normally have enough talent to beat most other nations’ best, so Cameroon will be proud to have this scalp under their belt as they scored the only goal of the game.
It was a fairly one-sided contest, as the 11-3 corner count in favour of Brazil indicates.
Two things had kept the African side on level terms in the goalless first half.
One was the athleticism of goalkeeper Devis Epassy, who protected his side on a number of occasions with outstanding saves.
The other was the ferociousness of their tackling, bordering on Assault GBH.
Challenges were flying in as the antidote to the sleek ball skills of the samba kings.
The intimidation tactics seemed to work as we never saw the kind of performance Brazil had provided in their first two games.
It took until the 48th minute for Cameroon to have their first shot at goal, Mbeumo forcing Ederson into a spectacular arched-back save.
The second half was much of the same, with the sting taken out of the game by the relative log positions.
Brazil didn’t need to win, and Cameroon couldn’t get to second spot with Switzerland having claimed that right with a solid 3-2 win over Serbia. However, they did leapfrog the Serbs into third place.
Cameroon would also put one past the world’s number one side in added time when a swift breakaway saw a cross delivered into the middle and Vincent Aboubakar headed powerfully past a flat-footed Ederson.
Unfortunately, Aboubakar took his shirt off in celebration – a yellow card offence – and he already had a yellow for an earlier transgression so it’s red for him.
There was still plenty of extra time on the clock and Cameroon were now down to 10 men.
I’m sure he will be forgiven but hopefully he will have learned a lesson in staying focused.
Exit Cameroon and Serbia; onwards and upwards for Brazil and the Swiss.
