Cameroon and Serbia slated for subs celebrating wildly in first half of 2022 World Cup match - ‘it’s daft!’
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ByEurosport
Published 28/11/2022 at 12:18 GMT
There was drama before the Cameroon v Serbia game at the 2022 World Cup with Andre Onana getting dropped. And there was drama during the game as the substitutes celebrated wildly on both sides when goals were scored in the first half. That led to criticism from John Hartson and Eni Aluko, who were on punditry for ITV Sport in the UK during the game.
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Former Wales and England forwards John Hartson and Eni Aluko have slammed Cameroon and Serbia players for their zealous celebrations during their 2022 World Cup group game on Monday.
Cameroon and Serbia came into the clash under pressure, having lost their opening games against Switzerland and Brazil respectively.
There were wild scenes just before the 30-minute mark when Jean-Charles Castelletto of Nantes gave Rigobert Song’s side the lead.
As he ran to the corner, substitutes from the other side of the pitch tore on and ran past the Serbia players to join their team-mates in the corner.
UAE referee Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed looked a bit bemused but after a moment’s consideration decided to book Shanghai Shenua forward Christian Bassogog, rather than all the players who ran onto the pitch.
However speaking on ITV Sport during the half-time break, Aluko and Hartson weren’t impressed, with the latter saying that the referee should have booked all the players.
“This is hilarious,” Aluko said. “You usually see this at the end of a game, a last minute-winner but all the subs just ran on!
“It was a bit of a free-for-all in terms of a celebration. I think the referee was a bit baffled as to who he should pick because there were so many players.”
At this stage, Hartson said: “The ref should start booking more players because this will start a precedent now that Cameroon have done it.”
Serbia equalised through RB Salzburg defender Strahinja Pavlovic, and then went ahead thanks to a goal from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
It was unsurprising to see their substitutes react in kind by running onto the pitch to celebrate.
“That’s obviously antagonised the Serbian subs and look what happens here,” said Hartson while watching the clip of the Serbian players celebrating.
It’s added more time onto the game. It’s daft.
“You can understand it maybe if a team gets a great win in the last minute. Then you can understand those celebrations with the game over. But not when the game’s going on.”
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Jean-Charles Castelletto of Cameroon celebrates with teammates after scoring their team's first goal with their teammates during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group G match between Cameroon and Serbia
Image credit: Getty Images
Whilst Serbia went ahead 3-1 in the second-half, they were pegged back as Vincent Aboubakar and Bassogog brought a pulsating game to 3-3.
It finished at that scoreline, meaning both teams are still alive, but only just.
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