I know addict. It's kind of hard to take, but I knew this was in the process since late March, because I knew Landreau was signing for PSG... Hopefully Piksi delivers on his promises.. PS How Mateja Kezman scoring the only goal for Atletico de Madrid against Real Betis today?? He is coming back!! Just like I predicted, and in time for the World Cup.
Dusan Basta has just been included in the U-21 side for the Euro Championships in Porgugal which take place from May 23rd to June 4th... Therefore it looks likely that he will not make the Serbian Senior National Team for Germany... Too bad..
It doesnt mean Basta and Vucinic wont go to Germany... Okuka and Petkovic agreed that Okuka can bring everyone he wants to Portugal, and all of the players can be called in senior team as well.
That's interesting... but I wouldn't want to do it.. because that gives less time for the players that are missing to gel with the rest of the squad. I would rather see Basta, Vucinic, Stojkovic with the team from May 18th to June 11th, then from June 5th to June 11th. I've played with many before and it's essential that you play together for a month or so, before you know what to expect from each player.. In my opinion Basta is needed from day 1... Obviosly Petkovic feels differently.
Petkovic anounced the list of players today!! Goalkeepers: Dragoslav Jevrić, Oliver Kovačević, Vladimir Stojković; Defense: Nemanja Vidić, Mladen Krstajić, Goran Gavrančić, Milan Dudić, Ivica Dragutinović, Dušan Basta, Nenad Đorđević; Midfield: Igor Duljaj, Albert Nađ, Ivan Ergić, Dejan Stanković, Predrag Đorđević, Zvonimir Vukić, Ognjen Koroman, Danijel Ljuboja, Saša Ilić; Attack: Savo Milošević, Mateja Kežman, Nikola Žigić, Mirko Vučinić So, there are from U21 team Stojkovic, Basta and Vucinic P.S. No Lukovic in team, Nadj is in, instead of Kovacevic, Ergic in instead of Rambo Petkovic/Paunovic
Dusan Bajevic is new coach of Red Star!!!!!! http://www.fc-redstar.net/newscontent.aspx?cultureID=1&ID=471&News=471
Ok, we havent earned a single point in this World Cup and everything can seem so dark. But guess what - it isn't. Not at all. In september we are starting EC qualification matches. For the first time it's not SFR Yugoslavia, it isn't SR Yugoslavia, it is not even Serbia & Montenegro, but finally Serbia, Serbian flag and Serbian hymn "Boze Pravde". Some of the players will retire and we have even better very young players to replace them: Milosevic----finally Zigic is comming in first 11. Milosevic played only to get to his 100 caps. Djordjevic----good footballer, but too old, we have some young talents on that position who should come in, even if they are not fully-formed players just yet, in order to create strong team(with not many changes) for next, at least, 4 years. Milijas and Krasic played very well in our U21 team and they are great tallents. Krstajic-----For center defender we have at least four very young players which are rare talents: Ivanovic, Basa, Stepanov, Rajkovic. Its really scarry, but on that position we will have no worries at all next 10 years. Jevric-----All honors to Jevra, but we have now Stojkovic - tremendous goalkeeper only 23 years old! Highest class. Dragutinovic---He was OK(nothing special), but we also have OK(nothing special) Lukovic. Nadj----no big deal. He wouldnt play even now, if our defenders didnt get injured, and Duljaj had to come back from his DM position to right back. So, it seems like we will be much stronger after this WC.
I was so naïve! I believed that Group C was “Group of Death” because Serbia & Montenegro was playing there. Serbia & Montenegro would be a “dark horses” in this WC that could possibly beat any of the three teams in that group. I also believed that we had really strong defense, which allowed only one goal in the entire WC qualifying matches. Unfortunately, the reality has been so much different. Finally, the last game against Ivory Coast, --with the two hand balls in the PK box and two yellow cards from a substitution player who was there on the field for only 27 minutes—was simply too much! (Doesn’t yellow card mean caution or warning to a player and thus the first yellow card should have sufficed for any reasonable mind?) Now, I believe jokingly that Serbia & Montenegro under-performed in this WC because it was essentially two countries playing on one team and players did not get time to gel as a team.
There are good reasons why we crashed on this WC. First of all, we played all our qualification matches with same 4 men back: Dragutinovic on left back, Vidic and Krstajic on center back, and Gavrancic on right back, and Duljaj as defensive midfielder. -On our first match vs Holland, Vidic couldn't play because of red card, so Gavrancic came from right backto center back, and P. Djordjevic came in on right back. And I dont think he ever played in competitive match for us. Robben just crashed him in first half. Coach saw that, and pulled him out, and than Duljaj came on right back. And even mixed up as that, we played very good second half. -Against Argentina, Vidic once again couldn't play, now because of an injury. Dragutinovic too. So, this time. everything was upside-down comparing to our qualifications: Krstajic came from centre back to left back, even though he is very slow, Gavrancic from right back to center back, Duljaj from defensive midfielder to right back, Dudicmad: ) to center back, and Nadj to defensive midfielder. That should never happen!!! And it's only Petkovic's fault. He didnt bring reserve left back (no1 Lukovic) at all, and for center back, he shouldt invite Dudic or P. Djordjevic, but Basa/Ivanovic/Stepanov. If he did so, they would just come in, and full empty position, and Duljaj, Krstajic and Gavrancic would play their positions!! Not to mention that Zigic should have played all matches from minute one!!! -And on our last match, we had too many players out: Vidic, Dragutinovic, Basta, Ljuboja, Kezman, Koroman, even Krstajic broke his arm after 20 minutes, and Nadj had to come in(to play left back ), and we all know what he did mad: ) , not to mention what Dudic did twice. That was too much, Brazil coudnt win such a match.
I don't know why Addict, but I really like those kits... That's the first time I remember seeing a third kit! I love all three... I can barely wait for the Uefa Champions League. How about you?
UEFA Champios League for us starts tonight! Red Star plays against Ireland champion Cork City in Cork in 20:45 CET. You can watch it here http://www.rts.co.yu/rts1uzivo.ram .
We won 1-0 away tonight... good win for the boys. We should go to the third round after such a solid performence.
Defender signed a Three-year Contract 29.07.2006 Gueye signed with Red Star Today, Ibrachim Gueye became a new member of FC Red Star. The Senegalese international signed a three-year contract; he will be eligible to play in the first leg of the Serbian Championship. With Gueye on board, the competition in the Rd Star’s defense has become stronger since he plays as a stopper. “Before I came to Red Star, I’ve heard many nice things about the club. Now I really see that it is a great club and my desire is to show that I am worthy of wearing the team’s jersey. I am not too familiar with my new teammates, I watched them in the National Cup final game vs. OFK Beograd. However, I know players who played for Red Star and who were very successful, including Savicevic or the present day President Stojkovic” said Gueye who described his fitness as follows: “I passed one fitness test, and I will do another one today. As far as I am concerned, everything is fine”, said Gueye who also played for CSKA Sofia and Samsunspor from Turkey. President Stojkovic added: “I a certain that Gueye will keep improving his form. Considering the number on his shirt, we still haven’t decided but it is not that important since it is a player, not a shirt number that plays”, said Stojkovic and continued: “We all agreed that Gueye is the best choice for us. He certainly is a good addition to our team since he will increase the competition among our defenders. Gueye is very well aware that Red Star belongs to the top clubs in Europe. We are very happy that we will have such a player in our club and he is also very content that he signed for our club.” Gueye was also on the wish-list of the Red Star’s biggest rivals, Partizan. “It was my manager, not I, who negotiated with Partizan. What is important at this very moment is that I am a member of Red Star and not Partizan. This is a club that can help me to get high recognition and all of us are working hard to qualify for the League of Champions (LC)”, said Gueye and added that he have heard about Red Star’s fans and pointed out that this is one more reason for him to play well. Stojkovic also made comments regarding the draw for the third qualifying round for the LC: “Everyone talks about AC Milan, but we have first to eliminate Cork City FC. The latter is our current focus and we’ll talk about Milan after coming Wednesday. The problems and controversies surrounding Milan’ss participation in the LC are not my concern and someone else is going to solve it. It is not in the spirit of fair-play that we discuss whether AC Milan will be eliminated from this year’s CL by the UEFA or not. The UEFA will make their decision in August. It is not up to us to break our heads around this issue. Whatever they decide, I am very happy that our club might play vs. AC Milan. They are a great team and we will do our best that the game vs. Milan becomes a true spectacle“.
It was lovely evening tonight. 3-0 for Red Star agains Cork City, 4-0 aggregate. Some 30.000 people gathered at FC Red Star stadium. It was joyfull being on north stand, people were eager for football after summer break. In 7 days we play agains AC Milan at San Siro. Their players aren't fully fit yet, so that could be our (only) adventage. If we manage not to lose more than one goal in Milan, at Marakana anything could happen.
Article from UEFA.com about tonight match: http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UCL/FixturesResults/Round=2355/match=84457/Report=RP.html
little offtop but still interesting - nice asist by ex-Partizan Miroslav Radovic in the polish league: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIdvNMBWraE
What's going on with soccer in Serbia that so few people go to the games? I was watching Partizan vs. Vojvodina the other day on Pink TV and I couldn't believe so few fans were in the stands. Even Zvezda/Partizan games can not draw more than 10,000 fans. Are people losing interest in 1st division Serbian soccer, or maybe people don't have the money to spend on games? I don't know. I know Partizan fans are boycotting their team, but the league as a whole? I remember the days of former Yugoslavia soccer and how big the interest was within the country. What happened?
It was a mixture of factors, but to be honest the biggest one in my opinion is the economical aspect to it, as well as how far our teams are going in Europe. The problem with Yugoslavia being divided is that there only a couple of decent games in the season. Most of them are between OFK Beograd, Crvena Zvezda, and Partizan. With the Balkan states becoming independent derbies and rivalries lost their place, and the competition that's to be found in Serbian football is much less than that of former Yugoslavia. That is the same for any former Yugoslav nation, e.g. the main being Croatia. They're suffering the same way we are. If there is not a big game e.g. Dinamo vs Hajduk, Zvezda vs Partizan on the weekend many people lose face. So I guess my main point behind the loss of football in our society has to be because of the war, and this reason eventually crumbled the competitive balance that was found among the Balkan nations. That is why up until 1991 most Yugoslav champions would usually get at least to the final 16 of the ECC or even in the case of Zvezda, winning it. But those days are long gone, and now we're rebuilding. The youth team of Serbia is in great shape, as our youth squads are showing some good signs; twice the vice champions of Europe... Our national team is on the rebound, and with Clemente at the helm look set for a Euro or a World Cup appearence. OFK and other teams are slowly starting to challenge the "big two" but more time needs to pass before mass crowds start enjoying football once again. Hopefully that will happen. I have voiced my preference for a Balkan/Adriatic league unification, but nobody supports the idea, because of their pride. In fact it would probably be better for all sides as it would increase the level of Division I football, and that in turn would spark interest from sponsors and fans. We'll see what happens in the future.