WCQ Review: France 2 – 1 Serbia

I’m sorry I couldn’t find the time to write this review in the days after the game itself, but I guess it’s never too late – I could even find a few reasons why it’s better to delay writing international reviews, but I won’t try to redeem myself. I guess I’m guilty as charged. Anyway, Serbia played an away game against France at Stade de France and lost the game 2-1, missing their chance to make a major upset and even help the French by directly deposing Raymond Domenech. Serbia had a decent game, playing really well in the first half and creating several good chances, but failed to continue in the same manner in the second, where we conceded two goals and only replied one. All in all, a fine game for our boys and a situation which simply couldn’t be considered bad for us. A brief review to follow:

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.