Here’s the line-up Antić used:

Stojković
Ivanović – Subotić – Luković – Obradović
Kačar – Petrović – Ninković
Krasić – Žigić – Jovanović

So, this was basically a 4-3-3 with Žigić up front, Krasić and Jovanović as wingers and Radoslav Petrović as a defensive midfielder. Antić didn’t have a full squad at his disposal, with Pantelić, Stanković, Kolarov and Milijaš being left behind and Janković and Vidić being injured. Therefore, Antić called-up some new faces, notably Radoslav Petrović of Partizan Belgrade, and gave a chance to Ninković, Kačar and Luković in the starting line-up.

The first half was goalless, however, and at half-time Zoran Tošić replaced Krasić, Kuzmanović stepped in instead of Kačar and Lazović filled the shoes of Jovanović. This has changed the formation somewhat, and also the result. “A living proof that you can advance by simply training with Alex Ferguson” – Zoran Tošić – scored two fabulous goals and Lazović scored another one, second for Serbia on the night. Players like Rukavina, Tomović and Milinković were also given some minutes at the very end and Serbia only conceded one goal, with Mphela’s strike in the 90′ minute giving the hosts a consolation goal. A splendid victory, really.

Dear South Africa – we hope to see you very soon. Victory against France and we can already book hotel rooms, let’s hope that Ribery, Henry & co. aren’t going to cancel our flights – after being so close, that would hurt very, very much.

The second half proved to be much more interesting. The Austrians, knowing that they don’t have anything to lose, started playing some bold and offensive football that took the Serbians by surprise. Nemanja Vidić was replaced at half-time by a right-back, Antonio Rukavina, and the defensive reshuffle that ensued made the Serbian defense look a lot less convincing. Both Rukavina and young centre-back Neven Subotić looked rather shaky at times and the Austrians were creating a chance after chance. The introduction of Boško Janković instead of Danko Lazović midway through the second half, however, gave the home side a spark that they needed. It was Janković who hit the post after a free-kick on the left side and it seemed like Serbia would actually score sooner or later.
But the guests had “secret weapons” of their own. Constantini introduced Marc Janko and Rubin Okotie (a fantastic player!) to improve his side’s offense and those two really wreaked havoc in the Serbian lines. It’s not that the Austrians dominated the game after that moment, but they were given too much space to create chances and it could’ve all ended rather miserably for Serbia hadn’t Marc Janko hit the bar after a fantastic shot that could’ve been labeled as a goal of the round. The whole crowd waited for the final whistle in fear, but the Austrians didn’t pose much of a threat at the very end.

It was a vital victory for Serbia, but it was far less convincing than the previous ones and that is something that doesn’t please the fans at all. With this level of play, France would definitely humiliate us and we can only hope this was just a bad day and that the pressure of having a full crowd in a long time took it’s toll on the players. But in the end, 3 points are won and the manner in which our direct rivals, France, won some of their games shouldn’t make us feel as bad as most of the fans do at the moment. It wasn’t an undeserved win and we should only look to improve our level of play before somebody really does punish us for it – let’s just hope it doesn’t happen at all.

In the first half, Serbia played an almost perfect match, easily stopping all Romanian attacks without giving them a decent chance to score and scoring two goals themselves. The first was one was scored by Milan Jovanović after Miloš Krasić, himself well played in by Pantelić, hit the post after an excellent run on the right. Standard de Liege man found himself in the right place in the right time and simply tapped in the rebound to give Serbia the lead. It looked like the first half is going to end that way, but Nemanja Vidić had other thoughts, pressuring Romanian defender Stoica to put to ball into his own net after a corner by Krasić (didn’t I tell you to watch out for this guy?). When the whistle was blown, the game looked like a resolved affair: Serbia played and defended very organized, giving the Romanians no chances whatsoever and prudently used all of theirs.

The second half, however, wasn’t going to be the same as the first. Romanians started playing very aggresive and attack-minded, and while the Serbian defense wasn’t going to be breached so easily, Romanian attacks started to bear fruit. Ciprian Marica scored an immensly important goal after a collective defensive blunder, and it looked like the Romanians were on course for an equaliser. The pressure must have taken it’s toll on both teams, because chaos is the best word to describe what has happened on the pitch after Marica’s goal, with both sides playing rather disorganised. After one such chaotic incident in front of the Romanian goal (in which there was even a handball by a Romanian defender), Branislav Ivanović managed to put to ball in the net by a pretty uncharacteristical overhead kick.
With Serbia leading 3-1, it looked like Romanian challenge was indeed over, but our eastern neighbors simply didn’t want to give up. Serbia had to endure wave after wave of Romanian attacks, Antić even subbed a third centre back, previously uncapped Neven Subotić, to replace a striker, Marko Pantelić. It was somewhat ironic that the young Borussia Dortmund man was the one who made a foul from which the Romanian goal came from: Mutu found Stoica in the box, and the Romanian defender didn’t hesitate to score his second goal of the night, this time in the opponent’s net. After the goal, Serbia had to defend rather heroically to survive the Romanians’ intense pressure, but the victory was ours in the end. In a game of two halves, Serbia did just enough to come out on top, and I assure you that even makes this victory sweeter.

I’m somewhat late with this review, and there was a friendly played on wednesday in which Serbia defeated Sweden 2-0, and the U21 also played a couple of friendly games. I hope I’ll be able to write a short report about these games in the next few days. A fantastic football spring for Serbia, really!

Serbia played it’s first semi-final game against Cyprus using what could be considered the strongest available line-up. After some nervous first minutes, our team was on fire during the first half, playing some excellent attacking football and scoring two goals in the process with Milan Jovanović and Danko Lazović on the scoreboard. The second half definetely wasn’t so exciting, but Serbia played smart and defended well enough to prevent the Cypriots from getting back in the game. With Ukraine defeating Slovakia in the other semi-final, the stage was set for theoretically the most appealing final beetween Serbia and Ukraine.
The tournament format could definetely be described as strange at best, since the final game was played less than 24 hours after the semis and this is definetely not the kind of pressure that professional footballers should be used to have. Both Serbia and Ukraine had some tired players in the team, but since Radomir Antić used the best possible line-up in the previous game and didn’t really have enough replacements for them (especially in the forward department, where Lazović was our only natural striker), Serbia’s chances in the final were somewhat diminished. With the shape both teams were in, the game itself wasn’t such and exciting affair and was decided by a single Nazarenko wondergoal in the first half.

The U21 team defeated Cyprus 2:0 thanks to the goals by Marko Milinković and Milan Smiljanić. As I regretably couldn’t watch the game at all, I really couldn’t tell you much about the course of the game and the way our boys played. An away win, however, especially when accomplished without conceding and with a largely diminished squad (all the best players of the U21 played for the senior NT), really does say something positive in itself. The U21 has really spoilt us by now – nothing less would be satisfactory for the fans. I just hope they continue like this until the U21 Championship.

Let’s start with the senior NT. When I’ve last written a post here, our boys had a win against The Faroese, a defeat from The French and were preparing for a crucial home fixture against high-flying Lithuania. Since that moment, our boys had some pretty impressive games, easily defeating Lithuania 3-0, hammering Austria in Vienna 3-1 (thus claiming the top spot in the group) and finally, demolishing Bulgaria 6-1 in a home friendly. Now, the results are pretty nice to see, but the manner in which these teams were defeated is even more splendid. ‘The Eagles’ played some nice, offensive and effective football, showed a winning mentality that generally all Slavic nations desperately lack and formed a truly formidable young team capable of some great things. But, who were the players that shined and lifted us to an another level? Other than the eternally reliable Vidić, a newly-reborn captain Dejan Stanković and a more and more agrresive Marko Pantelić, I really must mention CSKA Moscow’s Miloš Krasić and Standard de Liege’s Milan Jovanović as a heavenly winger duo that made us look like Spain in the last couple of games. Will this heaven last for long is something I really cannot say, but our team finally looks like a truly menacing offensive force, and that’s really something we haven’t seen in the NT for a long, long time. All of these player are relatively young and the players replacing them are even younger, and some would even say – more talented.

When speaking about the Serbian young team, a traditionally successful Serbian U21 team has qualified for the 2009 U21 European Championship in Sweden by comfortably defeating Denmark twice in the play-off. Now, I won’t be exaggerating if I said our U21 team is one of the best teams on the continent in recent years, participating 3 times in the semis and twice in the final in the last 3 editions of the competition. With the win against Denmark, this fairy tale continues and what’s particularily interesting is that each U21 generation is a more talented one then the previous. With the likes of Ajax’s Miralem Sulejmani, Hertha BSC’s Gojko Kačar, Manchester United’s newly acqiured duo of Zoran Tošić and Adem Ljajić and Vojvodina’s attacking prodigy of Danijel Aleksić, the title doesn’t look out of reach. Now, this team perhaps isn’t so strong in the defensive department like the previous one (with Chelsea duo of Ivanović and Rajković, Bremen’s Duško Tošić, Lazio’s Kolarov and Borussia Dortmund’s Rukavina), but presents a formidable offensive force with some big expectations from the country. Oh, and speaking of Chelsea’s Slobodan Rajković, he has been banned from international football for a year after his referee spitting incident at the Olympic Games, and he would’ve otherwise been included in the U21 line-up. All in all, the bright story of Serbian U21 team continues.

I’ve already mentioned Manchester United’s ‘newly acquired’ duo of Zoran Tošić and Adem Ljajić, and this tranfer deserves a section of it’s own. 21-year old Zoran Tošić and 17-years old Adem Ljajić left Partizan Belgrade for a fee believed to be 17m euros/pounds and joined the English, European and World Champions, Manchester United. If some of you thought this transfer was a surprise, I can tell you it was an even greater surprise here in Serbia. Now, while Adem Ljajić is an exceptional talent, a versatile offensive midfielder tracked by nearly all the top-clubs in Europe for some time now, Tošić is a pacy left-winger that didn’t really draw much attention and praise in the country or in the club that he’s played for. However, it looks like Alex Ferguson kept an eye on him for some time now and judged he could better realise his potential in the PL instead of a drastically inferior Serbian Superliga. Anyway, Ljajić returned to Partizan on loan to gain some invaluable first-team experience, while Tošić joined the Red Devils and has since played two games in which he, to my great satisfaction, showed why he was wanted by MU in the first place. A fine, fine, transfer to report, but only from one aspect. From the other, FK Partizan has lost two of it’s young assets (one being 17-years old) and the trend of losing all of Serbian young players to foreign clubs almost as soon as they are heard of continues.

There are just a few more transfers to write about. Serbia’s traditional goalscorer and Valencia’s most expensive spectaror Nikola Žigić, has finally left the club on loan. He returned to Racing Santander, the club he’s played for in the 2006/2007 season and from which he went to Valencia for a huge 20m transfer fee. He barely got a chance in Valencia, not fitting in their playing system (why did they buy him in the first place is beyond my understanding), but whenever he was given a rare game, he scored some goals. He joined Racing one month ago and he has already scored 4 goals in 5 games, not bad for someone who had a year and a half without regularily playing. El Santo, how he was called in Santander, is hitting his stride again. What could be better news for the NT? Other than this, there aren’t any transfers worth mentioning, but the potential ones may look interesting. Milan Jovanović and Miloš Krasić were very much sought after in this transfer window, being linked with clubs such as Manchester United (Krasić), Bayern Munich (Jovanović) and Real Madrid (both of them). They’ve stayed at their rescpective clubs, but be sure that both of them will have some important transfers in the summer. Who knows, one of them might actually win the UEFA Cup.

Oh, and, one other thing I’ve forgot to mention. Neven Subotić, a Banja-Luka born centre-back playing for Borussia Dortmund, has made the most natural choice and opted to play for Serbia. The youngster was eligible to play for the US, Bosnian, and Serbian NT’s, with the only realistic choice existing between USA, the country he’s already played for at the U21 level and that he’s lived in, and Serbia, his country by nationality. Now, if you are puzzled how can a man born in Bosnia be related to Serbia by nationality, you probably don’t know much about this region’s ethnic structure and problematics. You see, Serbian people is one of the three peoples that live in Bosnia (the others being the Croats and Bosnian Muslims – also called the Bosniaks), and two of these peoples, Serbs and Croats, also have their own countries. So, in sports, almost everyone plays for the country he ethnically relates to: Croats play for Croatia, Serbs play for Serbia and Bosniaks play for Bosnia. Anyway, Subotić is an exceptional talent, and with Vidić, Ivanović and Rajković as his centre-back coleagues, I guess that I could really say that Serbia has one of the best centre-back contigents in the world. The problem, though, is that you can’t win a game with centre-backs (with the exception of Vidić in his day, of course) and the offensive department is what will make the difference between qualifying in style and failing miserably.

There is a frienldly tournament in Cyprus coming soon, expect some posts in the next few days…

The game was played in an incredible atmosphere that you can’t see very often. The French were under a lot of pressure from the fans who used every opportunity to boo their coach Domenech, while the Serbian team itself had an amazing support from the stands that probably betters the support it recieves here in Belgrade. You could actually hear Serbian fans singing and shouting louder than the hosts, and it was evident it had an effect on the way the team played. We started very bravely in the first half despite losing captain Stanković to injury in the opening minutes, going to the half-time break with a feeling we should’ve scored and could’ve decided the game in a very shaky game by the French. However, France in the second half wasn’t the same team that played in the first. They started pressuring us really hard and it paid dividends when Govou managed to run through the entire Serbian defense and allow France captain Henry to score easily. Serbia tried to regroup and go forward, but it simply didn’t work and the game was all but over when Anelka got lucky with a deflection and shot the ball in the net. I consider both goals to be very lucky and extremely hard to digest, but the fact is that The French deserved to score even more with the play the’ve been showing throughout the second half. A header by Chelsea defender Ivanović gave Serbia some hope, and with the subs Domenech made after that it looked like The French aren’t quite secure in their win. However, they managed to hold on and stop our attacks without many problems, ending the game with a great sense of joy and relief. It even looked like both sides were satisfied with the result, and trutfully speaking, why not?
A must-win game for France ended in a victory, while Serbia lost a game that everyone expected for it to lose in the first place and that didn’t actually dent our chances for qualification. True, many people (including me) hoped that we could pull a surprise win in Paris, but a quick glimpse at the table diminishes any kind of dissappointment: Lithuania tops the group with 6, while Serbia, France, Romania and Austria all have 3 points from two games. Needless to say, there are many battles to be fought and if we play like we did in Paris, we could and should outgun all of our qualification rivals, including France when it visits Belgrade. But knowing the Serbian team and its unpredictability, I should really stop guessing anything at all – with this team, everything is possible.

The whole game was played in a similar manner, Serbia launched attack after attack, and the Faroese played ultra-defensive almost without any desire to threat Dišljenković’s goal. It was completely a one-sided game, but with the Faroese heroic defending and our boys’ numerous misses, victory and goals didn’t look so easy to get as on paper. Serbia had many chances at the start of the game, but awful shooting, woodwork and Faroese goalkeeper Jákup Mikkelsen’s excellent saves prevented ‘The White Eagles’ from taking the expected lead. It was the opposition defender Jacobsen that brought us the goal, heading a ball by Žigić into his own net. Many expected Serbia to continue scoring now that the barrier has been breached, but the game contiuned in similar fashion after the break and the only other goal in the came in the 88th minute in the form of Žigić’s header, earning the Valencia player a hero’s role for the home side. By that time Faroese were playing with 10 men after Næs got the second yellow card, and Žigić’s goal slighty reduced the crowd’s anger, which was evident throughout the entire game.

The inability to score goals is one of Serbia’s biggest problems for long time now, and last night’s game demonstrated that weakness very clearly. Despite all the possession and attacks, it was as if Serbians simply couldn’t make the ball go in the net. It has become a tradition in qualifying that stronger teams are not such a threat for us as the so-called minnows, such as Azerbaijan, Kazahstan and Armenia, who directly prevented us from reaching the last two Euros. We’ll see what happens on wednesday against France, if tradition continues, we should leave Paris undefeated. It is in these ‘minor’ games, however, when our opponents play ultra-defensively, that we need to search for a reform and imrovement in our game. Radomir Antić has been in charge of the team for only a few days now and it’s understandable that we aren’t shooting on all cylinders yet. France game will be a good test for our team, and I hope our boys show their class in Paris. A match preview to follow in the next few days.

Serbia line-up:

Dišljenković
Rukavina – Vidić – Dragutinović – Obradović
Krasić – Stanković – Milijaš – Tošić
Pantelić – Žigić

Jacobsen – 30′ (OG) (Serbia)
Žigić – 88′ (Serbia)

Luckily for us, France and Romania, our biggest contenders for qualification, both lost their opening games. France were defeated away to Austria by 3:1 and will be under a lot of pressure to deliver against us on wednesday. Romania, a team similar to ours in the terms of strenght and quality, were humiliated by Lithuania at home and definetely made a lot of Serbian and French fans happy. History, however, tells us not to celebrate this setback of theirs, Poland also lost their opening home game to Finland in the Euro 2008 qualifiers but still managed to top the group over Portugal and Serbia. We should better stick to our own games and try to win each one of them. Calculation never brought us any good at all.