Cameroon kept alive their faint hopes of reaching the round of 16 after substitute Vincent Aboubakar inspired a breathless comeback in a 3-3 draw with Serbia in Al-Wakrah.
It is a result that probably does not help either side, but Serbia will certainly be wondering how they allowed a two-goal lead to evaporate at the Al Janoub Stadium after Aleksandar Mitrovic had put them in a commanding position.
Cameroon took the lead against the run of play as Jean-Charles Castelletto peeled away from Andrija Zivkovic to prod home from on the goal line at the far post following a flicked on corner.
There were two minutes and 30 seconds between both Serbia goals on the stroke of half-time as Cameroon was punished for their lapse in concentration.
Strahinja Pavlovic rose unmarked to meet Dusan Tadic's set piece to find the bottom corner and the turnaround was complete when Sergej Milinkovic-Savic collected Zivkovic's pass to bury his left-foot shot beyond stand-in goalkeeper Devis Epassy.
Mitrovic extended Serbia's lead following a fabulous team move early in the second half, but after Aboubakar's outrageous dinked finish had halved the deficit, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting completed the comeback from close range shortly after.
Line-ups
Cameroon XI: Choupo-Moting, Nkoulou, Devis Epassy, Ekambi, Castelletto, Collins Fai, Pierre Kunde, Anguissa, Nouhou Tolo, Martin Hongla, Bryan Mbeumo
Subs: Vincent Aboubakar, Jean-Pierre Nsame, Olivier Ntcham, Nicolas Moumi Ngamaleu, G.K Nkoudou, Gaël Ondoua, Christian Bassogog, Samuel Oum Gouet, Enzo Ebosse, Olivier Mbaizo, Christopher Wooh, Souaibou Marou, Jerome Ngom Mbekeli, Ngapandouetnbu
Serbia XI: Tadic, Kostic, Mitrovic, A. Živković, Veljkovic, Lukic, Milinkovic-Savic, Maksimovic, Vanja Milinković-Savić, Milenkovic, S. Pavlovic
Subs: Lazovic, Gudelj, Djuricic, Stefan Mitrović, Dmitrovic, Filip Mladenovic, P. Rajković, Babic, Radonjic, Grujic, Jovic, Dušan Vlahović, Uroš Račić, Ivan Ilić, Strahinja Eraković