Cameroon’s Vincent Aboubakar scores a World Cup goal of the tournament contender against Serbia
Aboubakar’s SCOOP! Cameroon substitute nets an audacious World Cup goal of the tournament contender with the help of VAR review after the flag went up… but would he have tried it if he’d known he was onside?
Cameroon’s Vincent Aboubakar scored one of the most eye-catching goals of the World Cup – but only with the help of VAR.
Unfortunately, Aboubakar wasn’t able to properly celebrate his glorious lob of Serbia goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic because the assistant referee raised his flag for offside straight away.
But video assistant referee Mohamed Al Hammadi ensured one of the best-taken goals of the tournament wouldn’t be wasted by checking the replays and finding Aboubakar had timed his run to perfection.
Cameroon’s Vincent Aboubakar delicately chips the ball over Serbia’s goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic to put his side 2-3 behind – but it needed VAR to award it
Aboubakar wasn’t really able to celebrate what would be a goal of the World Cup contender
When the decision was relayed to referee Mohammed Abdulla, the Cameroon striker was able to celebrate briefly but his main focus was on hauling Cameroon level in a ding-dong encounter.
It also begged the question as to whether Aboubakar only attempted the audacious scooped finish because he believed he was offside.
His goal put them 3-2 behind but they equalised moments later courtesy of Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting. The game ended 3-3.
Cameroon captain Aboubakar, who plays for Saudi Arabian team Al-Nassr, bent his run to perfection to ensure he stayed onside after Jean-Charles Castelletto playing him through.
Serbia keeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic was drawn off his line and chipped expertly
The ball cleared the backtracking keeper and bounced over the goalline into the net
Aboubakar takes a touch inside the box to avoid the desperate sliding tackle by Nemanja Maksimovic and then delicately lifts the ball over keeper Milinkovic-Savic with enough power to find the net.
The referee, stood right behind the scorer, immediately looks over to the assistant and then raises his arm for offside but VAR suggested otherwise.
It was a muted celebration for Aboubakar not befitting the excellent goal he’d just scored
It was just one great moment in a thrilling Group G encounter on Monday.
Castelletto put Cameroon ahead but Serbia raced into a 3-1 lead thanks to goals by Strahinja Pavlovic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Aboubakar sparked Cameroon’s unlikely second-half recovery with Choupo-Moting levelling.
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