Unleash the Pet!

Who is Dejan Petkovic?

There is unanimty among the Brazilians; unknown by everyone else. In Brazil, nobody undestands why. But the fact is that Dejan Petkovic, voted the best midfielder in the 2005 Brazilian Championship, won’t be playing for Serbia & Montenegro at the 2006 World Cup.

Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo, technical coordinator of the Brazilian Seleção, criticized the attitude of the FA of Serbia Montenegro, telling that they are blind if they don’t see the talent of “Pet”. In the opinion of the journalist Eduardo Vieira da Costa, writing for Folha do São Paulo, this uncertainty about “Pet” in Germany 2006 is a great injustice.

Pet (as he is called in Brazil) is an old style genious. He has a precise pass, throw long balls, and shoots with perfection. He can shoot a free kick almoust as well as his idol Zico. He is an authentic #10. And besides all that, he also play with great determination, strength and he fights until the end.

Petkovic is also treated with unfairness, since there is no player in his country with even half of his talent. According to him, the reason of his absense on the Serbian squad is because of his problems with those who control the soccer in Serbia & Montenegro.

Although, his problems with the Serbian Team are much older and carries a little bit of bad luck. In 1992, with only 19 years, Petkovic were playing for the Red Star and for the Yugoslavia team that qualified undefeated for the Euro92. But due the country’s civil war, the UN, FIFA and UEFA decided to banish Yugoslavia from all the international competitions.

After that he begun to travel around the world. He played in many teams such as Real Madrid, Sevilla(Spain), Venezia (Italy), Vitória, Flamengo, Vasco(Brazil) and even in the Chinese team Shangai Shenhua. Now, at 33 years old he appears to be playing even better as Fluminense where he shared with the Argentinian Carlitos Teves the MVP in the last Brazilian league.

But with Yugoslavia, nothing else worked out right. In 1995, after a fight with the coach Slobodan Santrac he was sacked from the team and missed the opportunity to play the World Cup in France.

His last appearance with the Yugoslavian squad was in 1998, against Brazil. Ever since he seems to be forgotten by all the Yugoslavian/Serbian coaches.

In a land with simple named players such as Pelé, Didi, Zico and Kaká, this foreign player with a dificult name makes history. I have never seen the Brazilian mobilize themselves for a football player ever since Romário was not called by Luiz Felipe Scolari at 2002.

(über Portgual blogger/fan Luis Paulo Porte contributed this article)