Goalkeepers: Radiša Ilić (OFK Beograd), Damir Kahriman (Konyaspor).

Strikers: Nikola Žigić (Valencia CF), Danko Lazović (PSV Eindhoven), Milan Jovanović (Royal Standard de Liège), Ranko Despotović (FC Rapid Bucureşti).

Thoughts, anyone?

Apart from the entirely new goalkeeping corps, it’s a strong team with a lot of familiar names, but the odds of him getting all these guys for a friendly are pretty slim, particularly those coming from teams not on break, and busy fighting for league titles or European spots. For example, given how delicate Stanković’s health has been this season, how likely are Inter to release him for a friendly, when they finally have him fit for the first time since last summer? And no Bojan. Boo! Đukić’s self-proclaimed emphasis on youth combined with the desperate need to convince the kid to pick Serbia means Bojan should get a damn call — and soon, too, before Spain offer him a senior cap, and he makes the obvious choice.

Also, the World Cup qualifiers have finally been scheduled, along with a trio of friendies; the upcoming calendar is after the jump.

06/02/2008 Macedonia v Serbia
24/05/2008 Republic of Ireland v Serbia
31/05/2008 Germany v Serbia

[WC Qualifiers]
06/09/2008 Serbia v Faroe Islands
10/09/2008 France v Serbia
11/10/2008 Serbia v Lithuania
15/10/2008 Austria v Serbia
28/03/2009 Romania v Serbia
06/06/2009 Serbia v Austria
10/06/2009 Faroe Islands v Serbia
09/09/2009 Serbia v France
10/10/2009 Serbia v Romania
14/10/2009 Lithuania v Serbia

[Thanks to Zine for the squad list with the clubs included, and Kayannie for the calendar info.]

Since his resignation from the Partizan bench last week, it’s been a foregone conclusion that Đukić would get the job, but the length of the contract is a big surprising: It’s only for two years, which means it ends before the World Cup in South Africa — not exactly a resounding vote of confidence, is it? The FSS have said the contract will automatically extend for another six months if Serbia qualify, but why why not make it run 30 months from the start, like the contract Fabio Capello got in England? (Granted, Đukić can only dream about the kind of money Capello is making, but the length of the deal seems quite reasonable.) Contracts are hardly worth the paper they’re written on these days, so I don’t understand why the FSS wouldn’t assume the best and just give him a contract through the World Cup, since everyone and his brother would know he’d have to qualify to avoid being fired. It seems like they missed out on a chance to show their faith in him, which is not the best way to start a relationship.

In addition to guiding the full national team through World Cup qualifying (against France, the Faroe Islands, Romania, Austria and Lithuania), Đukić will also be in charge of the Olympic team when it goes to Beijing next summer. The Olympic rules dictate that the side be made up mostly of U-23 players with three overage ones allowed, which means the team will probably feature a lot of his old U-21 team and, in reality, could have a lot of overlap with the full national side. Generally putting national team coaches in charge of both isn’t considered the best idea because it divides their attention, but because so much of the Olympic team will probably end up in the full national side, in this case it makes sense, if only because it gives Đukić more time with his team.

The FSS say the appointment was unanimous, and Đukić himself is all fired up, and already talking about bringing kids into the side. “We want to play aggressive football and take the game to our rivals while keeping the flair and talent that brought success in the past. To do that, we need to bring in young prospects who will play their hearts out for their country, sing their national anthem with pride and win the hearts of all fans.” Hells yeah!

So far, two friendly matches have been scheduled: Against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on May 24, and against Germany in Gelsenkirchen a week later. Ireland face Montenegro in WC qualifying, while Germany will play Croatia in their Euro 2008 group about a week after the Serbia friendly, so both teams have obvious brought in the Serbs hoping they’ll present a similar style to those to sides. Given that the matches will be held shortly before the Olympics, one assumes Đukić will also be using them as warm-ups, and will call up his Olympic team for them rather than the full national team.

Yesterday, the reports were all about Italians who, given the frenzy surrounding Fabio Capello’s arrival in England, are evidently all the rage these days. Not to be outdone, the FSS are supposedly considering two of them: Arrigo Sacchi and Giovanni Trapattoni, both of whom had long stints with the Italian national team (the Azzurri reached the final under Sacchi in 1994, only to lose to Brazil in penalties). In addition to their international experience, both men have had great success at the club level, Sacchi with AC Milan, and Trapattoni primarily with Juventus, who won six Scudetti and and two Champions League titles during his 13 years in charge.

Since resigning as Director of Football with Real Madrid, Sacchi has mostly just be engaging the the sort of punditry to which legends are entitled, while Trapattoni is currently in charge of Red Bull Salzburg. As far as I know, neither has commented on the rumors, and since they came from Spain’s Marca, which seems to make up at least 50% of its content, we should do well to take them with a really, really big grain of salt. (That said, most of Marca’s lies have to do with Real Madrid, so it would be sort of odd if they’d just pluck this one out of thin air.)

Marca’s credibility aside, though, their story could well be moot, because Miroslav Đukić — one of the names associated with the Serbia job from the moment it came open — has resigned as coach of table-topping Partizan Belgrade. Apart from that old “I want to spent more time with my family” chestnut, Đukić gave management another reason for his decision: “He has been approached with a very enticing (career) offer and we wished him the best of luck in his future endeavors.” Oh reeeeeeally? Gee, I wonder what that offer could be!

Partizan are in no hurry to replace Đukić, since the second half won’t open until February, but it sounds like the FSS might have a slightly different timetable in mind. What do you think, Monday for the announcement? (I mean, he couldn’t possible have quit for something else, right?)

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.

As has been expected since the failure to qualify for Euro 2008, the Serbian FA (AKA the FSS) parted ways with the country’s first-ever coach, Javier Clemente, today. (Or, rather, they will when his contract runs out on December 31.)

Clemente has said all along that he wanted to stay, but the odds of that happening were ludicrously slim, given the nation’s and the FSS’s collective desperation to make an immediate mark on international football, despite the youth of the team. When qualifying ended, FSS head Zvezdan Terzić had vowed to back Clemente, saying the nation’s expectations had been unreasonable, but the media and supporters (who didn’t manage to turn up for the Poland match) quickly changed his mind, and Terzić kept his mouth shut at the meeting. As a result, he’s still got his job.

No replacement has yet been named, but all the media think Radomir Antić is at the top of the list, along with possibly Miroslav Đukić and Ilija Petković. I’ve also heard Siniša Mihajlović’s name mentioned, but he’s awfully young, and has said in the past that he doesn’t want the gig if it means he has to leave the Inter bench (which it would).

I don’t know anywhere near enough about any of these guys (apart from Mihajlović), but it would obviously be a huge coup to have Antić running such a young team. I have no idea if his style would be appropriate, but he’s certainly got the pedigree and, in fact, Wikipedia already says the job is his. (Do you think he’s wishfully updating his own page?) Petković would know the older players and perhaps some of the FA because of his history with Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro, but he’s not had much success as a coach, apart from in the Swiss League, has he? Đukić, meanwhile, is young and inexperienced, but he ran the U-21s for a while and would be familiar with some of the team, and settled in quickly and successfully on the Partizan bench.

In other words, I know nothing. The obvious choice is Antić, but he would cost a ton and may not be right for the team. Me, my heart says Mihajlović, because I love Inter, which is an awful reason. Thoughts? Inside info? Terzić says someone will be appointed by the end of January, so we can speculate to our hearts’ content until then.

Hope you enjoyed World Cup Blog… holler at Bob, cause he’s the man. See you in four years maybe.