Serbia thread

Serbia thread

I've recently become a bit of a Serbian football fan, going to be my second team behind NZ ofcourse.
Won their qualfying pool, the majority of their squad are playing for decent teams in Europe, I really rate their chances, if they can get out of their pool with Australia, Germany and Ghana. There's always a dark horse and behind the top 8 ranked sides i'd say Serbia plus one african nation will be there come the quarter finals.

For me their key players are

CB - Nemenja Vidic (Man u)
LB - Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea)
CM - Dejan Stankovic (Inter)
ST - Marko Pantelic (Ajax)
CF - Nikola Zigic (Valencia) whos a giant! over 2m tall.

My only concern is the keeper currently playing for Wigan

They have 7 players under 24 years of age in their last squad and 6 players under 22 years of age have also been called up during their qualfying run, so come Brazil in 2014 I think they'll be strong contenders.

They should get out of that group quite comfortably, they have the quality over Australia and Ghana. The Balkan mentality will, however, be a problem - I can see it already now. If they get through, there's the likelihood of playing England in the second round, could give them a run for their money.

The really important player for them is Milos Krasic, a pacy winger with a good eye for goal. The other wide player, Milan Jovanovic is also a good player, and a decent goal-scorer. Aleksandar Kolarov, the left-back from Lazio, is one of the emerging players in that position in Europe.

Their backline is good, but quite slow, and like you said, their keepers are absolutely awful. Zigic is massively overrated, but their options up front are fairly limited, that's pretty much why he's there.

Imagine Zigic coming up against Australia, a team lacking in the centre back position, he'll completely dominate.  All the top 8 teams are class, if they get out of their group they'll play tough opposition. I think Matic from Chelsea and Zoran Tosic from Man U are two young players to watch.

I read somewhere Danko Lazovic is in doubt for the world cup, he's a zenit st petersburg striker who i thought was probably better than Zigic, but maybe too similar to Pantelic.

Also Sevilla defender Ivica Dragutinovic has been ruled out.

"Serbia defender Ivica Dragutinovic has been ruled out for the rest of the season and will miss the World Cup after suffering a torn Achilles tendon. Dragutinovic, 34, has been in fantastic form for Sevilla this season but tore his left Achilles tendon in training and will now miss out for his country."

I personally think Zigic is too limited to dominate any defence.

Man U has dropped Tosic, don't think he's connected to them in any way anymore. Another good young player they have and who should make an impact for them is Zdravko Kuzmanovic from Stuttgart.

I read somewhere Tosic was wanting to continue his great scoring form next year with FC Koln (I think) but he wasn't fussed if man united wanted him back. So I assume he's still on their books but obviously likes the game time.

Preliminary Serbian squad:

World Cup squad: Vladimir Stojkovic (Wigan), Zeljko Brkic (Vojvodina Novi Sad), Bojan Isailovic (Cukaricki Belgrade), Andjelko Djuricic (Leiria), Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea), Antonio Rukavina (Munich 1860), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Neven Subotic (Borussia Dortmund), Aleksandar Lukovic (Udinese), Ivan Obradovic (Saragossa), Aleksandar Kolarov (Lazio),--- Dejan Stankovic (Inter Milan), Nenad Milijas (Wolverhampton), Miloss Krasic (CSKA Moscow), Milan Jovanovic (Standard Liege), Milos Ninkovic (Dynamo Kiev), Zdravko Kuzmanovic (Stuttgart), Zoran Tosic (Cologne), Miralem Sulejmani (Ajax), Gojko Kacar (Hertha Berlin), Nemanja Matic (Chelsea), Radosav Petrovic (Partizan Belgrade),--- Nikola Zigic (Valencia), Marko Pantelic (Ajax), Danko Lazovic (Zenith), Dragan Mrdja (Vojvodina), Dejan Lekic (Red Star Belgrade)

I can't wait until they knock the pants off Australia.

Hope they start Milligan against Zigic! 

Thats not going to happen.

Why not ?

Australia are awful.  Clueless, conservative coach with no Plan B, an elderly starting line-up carried by Cahill and no quality new talent coming in to replace them.

There I've said it.  Every chance they'll be home before us.

Probably more to do with Serbia tbh.

Serbia's biggest enemy by far - I posted that a month ago, and we've seen evidence of it this morning.

For Australia though, our win is not good news - this will give them a kick up the arse they probably need.el grapadura2010-05-30 20:04:14

When Oz played us this week that was their worst game that I have seen in 11 years. That is my reason.
The coach is not a person that I take to but he has been around and he knows his football.
His record with Oz is the best of any Australian coach.

I've seen them play as bad or worse than that in the last 18 months. 

Two games vs Bahrain and the Melbourne game against Oman were both awful and neither of them are in the same realm as Germany, Serbia or Ghana.