Even if it’s just Brazil’s B team, a goal against the five-time world champions is a sensation for outsiders Cameroon. The fact that captain Aboukabar also scored the winning goal with his goal is a real reason for him to be happy. But in exuberance, the player makes an unnecessary mistake.
Curious sending off for Cameroon’s captain Vincent Aboubakar: in the exuberance of his joy at the goal to make it 1-0 in the last World Cup group game against record world champions Brazil, the striker apparently forgot that he had already been warned. Aboubakar pulled the jersey over his head and ran to the corner flag. As this is usually punished with a yellow card, Aboubakar, who plays for al-Nasr FC in Saudi Arabia, was sent off with a second yellow card. Apparently, he only noticed his mishap as he walked into the cabin.
After the final whistle shortly afterwards, Cameroon’s coach Rigobert Song hugged his players and was cautiously happy about the lucky win against the record world champions, while Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting stared impassively into space. Despite the late 1-0 (0-0) win against Brazil’s B selection, the West Africans failed again in the preliminary round of a World Cup. “It’s a young team. We need experience. We blew it in the first game,” Song said after the game. “Today I’m proud of my players. Of course we’re disappointed, but we can grow from it. We’re going with regrets, but we’re going to come back.”
While Cameroon failed in the preliminary round for the seventh time in their eighth World Cup participation, the Brazilians want to take their next step on the targeted path to their sixth World Cup title against South Korea next Monday (8:00 p.m.). It remains to be seen whether Neymar, who is still injured, will be back. National coach Tite wants to comment on the return of his football superstar over the course of the weekend. “It will be a different game against South Korea and we will have a different team on the pitch,” said captain Dani Alves. “Now is the time when you can’t make mistakes anymore. We can’t let go now, that’s what we learned today.”
What the Brazilians did in front of 85,986 spectators had nothing to do with the starting eleven. National coach Tite made nine changes to his team compared to the 1-0 win against Switzerland, and even substitute goalkeeper Ederson got his first minutes at the tournament in Qatar. Then there was Alves, who captained his team at the age of 39, becoming the Seleção’s oldest player at a World Cup. But despite all the rotation: the Brazilians also dominated the game against Cameroon.
But the game didn’t really pick up speed. The Brazilians didn’t have to, Cameroon couldn’t. As in the previous preliminary round games, the Seleção’s reserve defense hardly allowed anything. This was also due to the fact that the Cameroonians, although they still had a theoretical chance of making the knockout stages, acted extremely unimaginatively up front. Bayern striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting also remained largely inconspicuous. If anyone approached the opponent’s goal, it was primarily the record world champion.
The Seleção’s substitute team only had one thing to blame: their poor conversion of chances. Without Neymar with a foot injury or attackers Richarlison and Vinicius Júnior rested, there was a lack of efficiency in scoring. Then Aboubakar scored in added time to win – and had to go down immediately afterwards to celebrate. It wasn’t enough to get ahead.