World Cup 2022 LIVE: Cameroon vs Serbia latest score, goals and updates from Group G match

6 mins: Decent move down the left by Cameroon gets the crowd interested and the ball is played to Anguissa on the edge of the box but he hesitates and can’t get a shot away. Serbia immediately counter and stretch their opponents.

Then a first CHANCE for Mitrovic. Good ball whipped in by Maksimovic and the FUlham striker rises high but can’t direct his header on target as it sails harmlessly over. It was probably a little high for him.

4 mins: Cameroon having more of the ball in the early stages but it’s mostly in their own half and a sloppy pass by Tolo out of play gives Serbia possession.

They do little with it though and the African side clear their lines. Cagey opening so far.

Kick-off: And we’re underway in this crucial match.

Aleksandar Mitrovic goes down heavily early on after being challenged in the air and there’s some concern form Serbia players and fans as he stays down. After some treatment, he’s back up and fine to continue though.

The anthems have been completed and we’re almost ready to go in Qatar. Both these sides desperately need a win here to reignite their qualification hopes after defeats on the opening day.

Anthem-wise, Cameroon’s is a jaunty number and sung with a reasonable amount of gusto by the players, while Serbia’s is slower and more dramatic but the players probably belted it out a bit more enthusiastically.

You may have noticed that normal Cameroon No 1 Andre Onana isn’t in the starting XI today, in fact he isn’t in the matchday squad at all.

We’re hearing that’s because he’s had a falling out with Cameroon coach Rigobert Song. Song has punished his goalkeeper for that disagreement by not even including him on the bench.

Devis Epassy, who plays for Saudi Arabian club Abha, will win just his sixth cap as he dons the goalkeeping gloves, making his first start at a World Cup.

The Roger Milla-inspired side that graced Italia ‘90 are the first Cameroon team that many people think of but it has been a struggle for the African nation at the World Cup since. You want stats to demonstrate their woe? Oh, we’ve got stats to demonstrate their woe!

Cameroon have now lost their last eight matches at the World Cup (across the 2002, 2010, 2014 and 2022 tournaments). Defeat here today would see them equal the all-time record for most consecutive World Cup defeats (9) – set by Mexico between 1930 and 1958.

In their World Cup history, the African side are averaging just 0.8 goals per game (18 from 24 games), which is the lowest games per goal ratio of any nation (who have played at least 20 games) in the tournament’s history.

Attacking midfielder Dusan Tadic is set to win his 93rd cap for Serbia today – that’s the third most for the country since they started playing as an independent nation in 2006.

Only Aleksandar Kolarov (94 caps) and Branislav Ivanovic (105) have more than the 34-year-old Ajax playmaker.

Meanwhile, Serbia battled hard in their World Cup opener against Brazil but a pair of goals from Richarlison, including a scissor-kick that may already have wrapped up goal of the tournament, secured a 2-0 win for the five-time champions.

A show of what’s to come, and also a throwback. Brazil illustrated why they are favourites for this competition with a commanding victory, but inherent to that was how Richarlison offered a first truly magic World Cup moment from the Selecao in perhaps two decades, wrote Chief Football Writer Miguel Delaney.

His sensational goal, that was at once deft and fluid but also thunderous and definitive, was the sort of play that created the country’s football fame in the first place; that sparked the imagination… that made you want to watch them.

It was up there with Pele’s dummy, Josimar’s swerve and Ronaldo’s swivel. It was also the crowning moment for both this 2-0 win over Serbia and Richarlison’s fine individual performance, as the Tottenham Hotspur striker scored both goals.

Given the problematic nature of this World Cup, it is worth pointing out that Qatar now has the benefit of forever being associated with a moment that will be replayed for years; that will become part of the World Cup’s lore.

Cameroon started their World Cup campaign with a frustrating 1-0 loss to Switzerland as Breel Embolo got the only goal of the game after Cameroon had wasted a slew of chances in the first half.

The muted goal celebration is not an especially common sight in international football, but with an ever-more globalised world comes an ever-more globalised World Cup, and so too the conflicting emotions of Switzerland’s match winner Breel Embolo, wrote Mark Critchley.

Born in Yaounde before emigrating to France when he was five years old, Embolo did not celebrate the crisp, guided finish that helped overcome Cameroon in this tight Group G opener, instead putting his hands up in apology. A few of his teammates ran to celebrate the assist with Xherdan Shaqiri instead.

They understand, after all. Many of Murat Yakin’s squad are dual nationals, with the Balkan-origin contingent relishing a rematch of their fiery 2018 meeting with Serbia in the final round of group games. That could be crucial to their hopes of reaching the last-16, with Brazil now next up, but to take three points here was a promising start.

Cameroon can take positives, despite this eighth consecutive defeat equalling a World Cup record. Rigobert Song, the former Liverpool and West Ham defender, will note that the Indomitable Lions were the better side while the game was goalless, yet a repeat of 2010 and 2014’s group stage exits now looks more likely than any Italia ‘90-esque heroics.

What are the bookie saying about this game today? Serbia are heavily favoured to get the better of Cameroon