Cyprus Friendlies: Two Victories, One Defeat

Both the Serbian senior NT and the U21 team played their respective friendly games in Cyprus, the former defeating the hosts in the semis and losing to Ukraine in the final, while the latter defeated the Cypriot hosts in their only game on the island. Now, what did we learn in these two days? First of all, we learned that this team of ours didn’t really forget to play football during the winter break, showing some signs of true class in the first game against Cyprus. Secondly, we learned that Ukraine really is a bogey team for us, somehow defeating us at all possible levels in the last few years. Thirdly, we learned that it isn’t really prudent to let players play two competitive games in only two days, especially if you only have one (yes, one!) striker available. Fourthly, we learned that somehow Serbia cannot win games in which it concedes the first goal (wait, we alredy knew that!) and fifthly, but not at least importantly, that the U21 team very rarely dissappoints it’s fans. Here’s a quick review:

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.