Goalkeepers:
Vladimir Stojković (Getafe), Vladimir Dišljenković (Metalurg Donetsk), Bojan Isailović (Čukarički)

Attackers:
Nikola Žigić (Racing Santander), Danko Lazović (PSV), Miralem Sulejmani (Ajax)

The U21 team also plays a friendly against Cyprus on wednesday at 14:00 CET. The European Championship is just a few months away and coach Slobodan Krčmarević needs to prepare the side properly in this year’s friendly games, create the basis of the team and incorporates some younger talented players previously uncapped for the U21 side. In doing this, the coach will have some problems and the biggest of them all is the fact that many of the star players also play for the senior side and are therefore unavailable for friendlies like this one. Ivan Obradović, Zoran Tošić, Miralem Sulejmani and Igor Đurić got a call by Antić and the first three of them are almost certain to actually play for the senior side, while there are also a lot of players missing for various reasons. All in all, it should be an interesting test for the ambitious U21 side, featuring four debutants: Slavko Perović of Red Star, Nemanja Tomić of Partizan, Aleksandar Ignjovski of OFK Belgrade and Aleksandar Ignjatović of Borac Čačak. Here’s the full squad list:

Goalkeepers:
Bojan Šaranov, Željko Brkić

Attackers:
Rade Veljović, Slavko Perović, Danijel Aleksić

I will write the reports on the matches, probably after the U21 game on wednesday. One other thing, it has been revealed that Žigić and Luković are set to miss the tournament (altough Luković travelled with the team), and Lazio’s left-back Aleksandar Kolarov has been summoned as Luković’s replacement. Eagles, good luck!

When football started to gain importance in this part of the world, Serbia was a part of the country called Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Renamed to Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929 and generally known by that name). Yugoslavia was a rather important football nation at the time, playing and reaching the semis of the first World Cup (Uruguay, 1930) and started to grow a reputation for itself in those pioneer days. The country was conquered and occupied in 1941, and started its new life after the Second World War under the new, socialist/communist regime. This ”Second Yugoslavia”, ruled by the famous Tito, was basically the same country as the pre-war Kindgom, comprising what is today Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Macedonia. Football thrived after the war: Yugoslavia didn’t have many international successes (altough it played excellent football during these several decades), but football in general grew in importance and quality. Four biggest Yugoslav clubs: Red Star Belgrade, Partizan Belgrade, Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split were true superpowers on the Europan level at certain points in country’s existence. Rivalry and match attendance were high, stadia which were built then are still considered the best we’ll have in years to come (which isn’t really a thing to be proud of), and it wasn’t really a great surprise when Red Star won the European Champions’ Cup in 1991, albeit at the very end of this whole era.

That same year, the whole 70-year old entity known as Yugoslavia ceased to exist, divided into five new nations: FR Yugoslavia (comprised of Serbia and Montenegro, much smaller than the old Yugoslavia), Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Macedonia. The ensuing wars destroyed and damaged many things, economy for example, but the blow that football suffered was probably unparallelled. The bigger league didn’t exist any more, Yugoslav heavyweights didn’t have proper competition in their own national leagues and at the time when football was transformed into business, former big clubs couldn’t find enough funds or support to retain their European status. I wouldn’t make a mistake if I said that the biggest blow came to the new, lesser Yugoslavia: sanctions imposed to the country also applied to football, and the result was very painful. Red Star, European Champion in 1991, hadn’t been able to qualify for the Champions’ Legaue ever since. Partizan, the other Belgrade giant, managed it only once (2003). With the current condition in today’s club football, it is very hard to imagine that this country had an European and World (EUSA) Champion 17 years ago.
Yugoslav national team wasn’t that hard-hit by the wars and sanctions themselves, altough it was banned from playing until the 1998 World Cup. However, the old Yugoslav NT was gone and most of the potential it had was now distributed between five nations. With many things changed in club football, the whole infrastructure was falling apart, with criminal interference and dominance in the world of football and the inability to adjust to important flows in modern football. Altough it could be considered a Dark Era, this condition in football remains until today. Yugoslavia was renamed to Serbia and Montenegro in 2003, and the country itself fell apart in 2006. This dissolution didn’t hurt neither Serbia or Montenegro as much as some may thought, and it could be argued that with the creation of an independent state of Serbia sports in general recieved a much needed boost. Serbian anthem, Serbian flag and a feeling of patriotism were seeked for like a rejuvenating elixir for football in this country. That’s why the failiure to qualify for Euro 2008 wasn’t very well recieved, and despite the feeling of dissapointment, there are great hopes for this generation and the chances of Antić’s men for reaching South Africa. With so many successes on U21 level, this new generation of Serbian footballers definetely has the potential to deliver and do something great. We’ll see in the next few months whether they are able to meet the whole nation’s expectations or not. I certainly hope they do.

That would be all from me fow now: if you have some questions, tips or such, feel free to comment. We have a very important game in Paris on wednesday, so if you’re interested, drop by and check the match preview. This may actually be THE game when Domenech gets fired, you wouldn’t want to miss that, would you?

The rumor mill, though, says it’s much more than that, and suggests former president Dragan Stojković collaborated with Damjanović to instigate the violence (!), hoping it would “create trouble for new Red Star president Toplica Spasojeviić and his team.” Additionally, there are reports of organized crime connections for Red Star, and crimes ranging from money laundering to tax evasion to “white slavery.” It’s alleged that Red Star are not alone in these crimes, though, and that both Partizan and various figures in the FSS are next in line to be investigated. Jesus. (I’m assuming the white slavery thing has to do with not paying players, and selling them in shady ways. If it’s more than that, I’m officially really, really freaked out.)

I’ve learned about 1.5% of what I need to know about Serbia football, but even with my very limited knowledge, none of this (apart from the white slavery thing) really surprises me. What I don’t understand is why it’s being investigated now — did all of the attention come out of the attack on Nebojša Trajković? That seems unlikely, at least in terms of the financial issues, but what would have motived it otherwise? Is it something to do with Piksi’s resignation? Or, though it seems almost impossible, is it motivated by nothing more than a desire for justice? Yeah. I doubt that, too.

In simple, stadium news, it’s being reported that Red Star will play their next three home matches (including the Belgrade Derby in February) behind closed doors, and also will have to pay a fine of 500,000 dinars for the violence during the Hajduk Kula match. (I’m assuming they can and will appeal.)

First, there was the horrific attack of a plainclothes cop at the Hajduk Kula match, footage and shocking photographs of which, ripe as they were for (quite reasonable) sensationalizing, went all over the world, and didn’t exactly leave the club (or Serbian football in general) looking very good. The latest is that several men were arrested in the wake of the attack, and at least one will face charges of attempted manslaughter. Whether that will lead to any big picture changes, however, is anyone’s guess. (Based on my personal contextual evidence of the Italian league, I’m going to guess no.)

Then, yesterday, there was a perfect storm of sorts. Most importantly, club general secretary Zoran Damjanovic was arrested, along with three other club officials, though what’s going on depends on what sources you believe. Either this is part of an investigation into the events of the Hajduk Kula match, and Damjanovic is suspected of helping the Ultra bring flares into the ground, or it’s a completely separate matter involving organized crime and questionable transfer practices. Either way, not good. (The club, needless to say, are all about support for their authorities and the actions. Well done, police. *pat, pat*)

Shortly after the arrests, due to local rumors that they were “looking for trouble,” traveling Bolton supporters were held at their hotel by Belgrade police prior to their team’s UEFA Cup match against Red Star, despite the total lack of evidence any evidence of an actual threat. (Again with the terrible PR, for the team and the league.) And, finally, though the match went off peacefully, Bolton became the first English team ever to beat Red Star at home, leaving Belgrade with a 1-0 victory and assuring that the Serbian side will not advance to the knockout stages of the UEFA Cup.

JEEZ. The good news is that it’s Friday. It can’t get too much worse, right?

Anyone would can fill in any of the ample gaps in the above story, particularly about the arrests, please do so in the comments. I’ve scoured the English-language sources, but there’s just not much to be found.