It wasn’t quite the shock of 1990 but, 32 years after they opened a World Cup by beating Argentina, Cameroon exited this tournament by defeating the other South American superpower. Unlike in 1990, there will be no surge into the knockout stages, because a remarkable result was in vain. It is Switzerland who accompany Brazil into the last 16, a first group-stage defeat since 1998 not enough to prevent the Selecao from topping their pool for an 11th successive World Cup and setting up a last-16 tie with South Korea. Tite may consider the loss of that unbeaten record a worthwhile trade-off for the chance to rest his premier players.
Yet if it permitted an upset, the sense was that this was drifting to a stalemate until a mundane match had an extraordinary conclusion. Karl Toko Ekambi crossed, Vincent Aboubakar met it with a superb header which flew past Ederson. After his astonishing scooped goal against Serbia, it was another brilliant finish, but it brought his tournament to a slightly premature finish.
