World Cup Preview - Group C - Serbia and Montenegro

Serbia and Montenegro

Coach: Former Yugoslavian international Ilija Petkovic.

Nickname: Plavi (“The Blues”)

Game Schedule:
June 11 – Serbia vs. The Netherlands (9 a.m. EST)
June 16 – Serbia vs. Argentina (9 a.m.)
June 21 – Serbia vs. Ivory Coast (3 p.m.)

Prospects: Serbia are appearing at the finals for the first time in its young history. The rule of thumb about these Balkan sides is that they’re never as strong as their former Yugoslav conglomeration. That may be true, and yet Serbia was the first Eufa conference side to qualify, having allowed just one goal in qualifiers. Needless to say, it’s back four is its main strength. However, they also possess a wealth of experienced talent, such as Inter Milan’s Dejan Stankovic. It’s hard to underestimate the influence of nationalism when these guys pull the national team shirt on. This can turn Aston Villa reject Savo Milosevic into a world beater. If Serbia had drawn a more reasonable group, they might have surprised some teams. Yet, with Argentina, Holland and the wild card Ivory Coast all crammed in the same group, someone’s got to give.

Big Media Story: Will Serbia and Montenegro split for the World Cup? As always, politics dominates footie in this area of the world.

Key Player: Captain Mladen Krstajic, a sturdy center half who plies his trade in Germany for Shalke 04.

Youngster to watch: Red Star Belgrade striker Nikola Zigic. At 6’8”, he’s rightly dubbed “the world’s tallest footballer. Should be fun to watch.

Who Will Get the Goals: Mateja Kezman – didn’t quite fit into Jose Mourinho’s plans at Chelsea; now rattling them in regularly for Athletico Madrid – top scorer for Serbia in the qualifiers.

Who Will Get the Cards: Pompey clogger Zvonimir Vukic.

Funniest Name: Stankovic, of course. It may be the “Smith” of Serbian names, but in English – priceless!

Prediction: Will press the big two teams very hard in the group stages, but the Serbs just won’t quite have enough quality in the squad to go further. They could end up with a few points before exiting.

~Bob