Late goal gives Cameroon joy and shock win over Brazil
A much-changed Brazil team suffered a surprise 1-0 loss to Cameroon but it was not enough to keep the Indomitable Lions in the World Cup.
Vincent Aboubakar fired Cameroon to a last-gasp win, before being sent off for his celebration, as the Selecao still topped Group G.
With Brazil having secure a place in the round of 16 by beating Switzerland last time out, Tite made nine changes to his side, which resulted in a disjointed performance at the Lusail Stadium.
Devis Epassy kept Cameroon in the contest with several fine saves before Aboubakar nodded home a stoppage-time winner for Rigobert Song's men – and was promptly shown a second yellow card for removing his shirt.
It left coach Rigobert Song with regret after Cameroon became the first African team to beat Brazil in World Cup history – previously the record was seven wins from as many starts for the South American giant.
"I didn't even realise that this was such a historic victory. We are one of the African countries who have played more World Cups than most, and now we've beaten Brazil," Song said.
"My players deserve to be congratulated. They showed tonight they could have done better in the first two games [a 1-0 defeat to Switzerland and a 3-3 draw with Serbia].
"I think we do have a feeling of regret. Now we realise we could have done better. But we need to look on the positive side as well.
"I'm trying to get across a team spirit, that lion's spirit, which needs to be the key to Cameroon teams.
"We realise now we could have done better in this tournament. We're a young team and today we've seen our young team getting stronger and stronger."
For Brazil, Tite warned it must be "very careful" in the knockout stage with Neymar a chance of returning from injury.
Team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said: "With 72 hours before the next match, we have time on our side. We still have possibilities."
With or without his star man, Tite certainly will not become complacent.
"Brazil lost to Cameroon. Portugal lost to South Korea. France lost to Tunisia. Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia. I think the results speak for themselves," he said.
"I think these are very strong, very tough matches. I don't think we can think any prior situation makes it easy. We need to be very careful... We can't say it's easier and we have an advantage.
"We can't say that."
