Here is the Serbian squad Radomir Antic has called up for the match against Romania on Saturday, March 28th in Constanţa. Goalkeepers: Vladimir Stojković (Getafe) Vladimir Dišljenković (Metalurg Donetsk) Bojan Isailović (Genlerbirligi) Defenders: Branislav Ivanović (Chelsea) Nemanja Vidić (Manchester United) Neven Subotić (Borussia Dortmund) Aleksandar Kolarov (S.S. Lazio) Antonio Rukavina (1860 Munchen) Igor Đurić (Vojvodina) Ivan Obradović (Partizan) Ivica Dragutinović (Sevilla) Midfield: Dejan Stanković (Inter Milan) Gojko Kačar (Hertha Berlin) Zdravko Kuzmanović (Fiorentina) Nenad Milijaš (Red Star Belgrade) Miloš Krasić (CSKA Moscow) Boško Janković (Genoa) Miloš Ninković (Dinamo Kiev) Milan Jovanović (Standard Liege) Forwards: Nikola Žigić (Racing Santander) Danko Lazović (PSV Eidnhoven) Miralem Sulejmani (AFC Ajax) Marko Pantelić (Hertha Berlin) Notes: Here are a couple of thoughts I have on the week ahead. First I'm really glad Nikola Zigic is back. He is hitting form for Racing Santander after going back on loan from Valencia. He has 7 goals in 9 games. I really don't get why Valencia does not play him. Anytime I have seen him play he has put in a goal. Maybe he just does not fit their style. Zigic started to dry up a little bit last season and his form for the national team suffered consequently, but I really believe that he is back to his best again which can only be a plus for us since we really need a forward to take control in a game. Secondly, obviously, Neven Subotic has received his first call up to the Serbia squad. However, I'm only left to wonder if he will start in such an important game. Vidic has a pretty solid partnership with Dragutinovic and Lukovic, and I wonder if Antic will let Neven play. I think he should wait and start him for the friendly against Sweden a little bit later, maybe come on as a sub if everything is going well. Our defense is playing fairly decently.. I'm just unsure if this is the right time to put him in a such an intense atmosphere. For the future though he is definitely starting ahead of Dragutinovic. Thirdly, Aleksandar Lukovic has been replaced by Aleksandar Kolarov, therefore it is truly between Subotic and Dragutinovic for that second center back spot, as I forsee Ivan Obradovic keeping his left back slot. In midfield we are looking brighter. Gojko Kacar is one of the main reasons besides Andriy Voronin why Hertha Berlin is first in the Bundesliga. His marshalling of the center midfield is a really important role, and I feel like he should get the nod possibly over Nenad Milijas who has been a regular under Antic. As for the other midfielders, Jankovic is starting to really hit form for Genoa with three goals in the last 6 games. I really think he is starting to show that form which earned him the large money moves to Mallorca and Palermo. Dejan Stankovic is his usual self at Inter, creating several chances and popping in with a couple himself. He had a ridicoulous assist to Cambiasso on the weekend against Reggina. Krasic and Jovanovic are still their menacing 'selves, but I really don't know if they are in the form they were when we played Austria and Lithuania. If they are they are starting for sure on the wings. Milos Ninkovic has also been called up after the playmaker has had several impressive performances in the Uefa Cup for Dinamo Kiev. He played well against Valencia, and then scored the second goal for Kiev against Metalist Kharkiv which sent them to the last eight. Miralem Sulejmani has had a decent second half to the season with Ajax, recently scoring against Marseille in the Uefa Cup round of 16. However it was not enough as L'OM went through on away goals. This is the line up I would want to see come game time versus Romania: ----------------------Stojkovic----------------------- Ivanovic-----------Vidic----Dragutinovic-----Obradovic ------------------------------Kacar------------------ ------------------Stankovic-------------------------- Krasic--------------------Jankovic-----------Jovanovic -----------------Zigic-------------------------------- Basically I think Subotic should sit this one out unless he really impresses in training and merits a starting spot. I have been watching Dortmund over the past couple of weeks with a German friend of mine who's from Dortmund and his mistake led to a Schalke goal in the derby. However they have had two shutouts in recent games. I'm really uncertain. That is one decision Antic will have a really hard time with I feel like. Ivanovic and Vidic are certain starters along with Stojkovic. Ivan Obradovic has proved himself for the national team and his starting spot is a lock, unless Antic adopts a really defensive back line and puts Drago on the left with Subotic in the center. Both Kolarov and Obradovic are attacking left fullbacks so this also might be a possible choice. Experience is short on the left hand side thus Drago might start for that reason. Kacar will be marshalling the midfield shutting down Romania's attacks with Vidic. Stankovic's role will be getting the ball to the two wide players in Krasic and Jovanovic, which have three options. One is taking their player on and trying to create something. Their second option is getting the ball to Bosko Jankovic which I have playing a supporting striker who would play off of Zigic. His speed and good first touch could open up the space for the wide men as well. Also his long shots are perfect from this range. And their third option of the wings is to cross to Zigic who as always menacing in the air, or try to work a one-two with him. I think Romania could potentially underestimate as most people do not know how good Zigic is with his feet. The key will be Stankovic and Kacar. I feel like if they can regain control of possession and find our wide men we should have no problem scoring. This system also gives our fullbacks a chance to rest while also giving them support to make a couple of runs down their respective sides. Overall I'm always pessimisitic thus I won't be disappointed with a draw or a a narrow loss because Romania must win this game to remain in the WC hunt, but I would really, really love a win so we can put our stamp on this group and threaten France for that first place. I also noticed that after this game our only away games left are Lithuania and the Faroe Islands, which makes the opportunity so much greater. We don't lose at home. Period. HRABRO ORLOVI!!!!
If we get a win in Romania, then I'm almost positive we will qualify for 2010 WC unless we somehow have a massive meltdown.
Is there a webstream for this game anywhere? Is it possible justin.tv or any other TV feed-hawking website will have access to the game?
Look up on myp2p.eu, under live sports. click on football, and then scroll down for serbia-romania. should be a bunch of links with media player designations.
Hi. This is the only forum where i found few serbians. Greetings and respect for all supporters from Serbia. Weapologise for all retard gypsies stewards from Constanta. The only splendid part of the game were serbian fans. Good luck at World Cup and hope we will meet again in better circumstances. (sorry for my poor english)
Thank you Romanian brother However there is no excuse for Serbian fans who started riots.That only embarrasses us and there is no need for that, that can get us fined, and spoils our reputation. It was Radomir Antic who decided the match. He totally killed Piturka, we played tactically very intelligent game. You were better in the 2nd half. Well I hope that Romania can also make it through. If you beat France anything can happen. And I prefer Romanian team over French.
I have been browsing some Romanian forums, and some of them are whining and calling our two goals " illegal" because of "offside". I think that they should take their bias-glasses off and get prescription glasses. Also some people complain about the quality of football.... What did they expect? Samba on the pitch? In such an important match? We played tactically intelligent game and it was enough for 3 points. I give them credit for putting up a good resistance even though they were missing some very important players. In my opinion: Stojkovic: Should have stayed on the goal line on the 1st Romanian goal.Other than that he was pretty good, as always. Ivanovic: He was flawless and and also managed to score a goal a la Pippo Inzaghi. Watching him person would say that he is playing day in and day out for Chelsea, while in fact he is warming the bench or the stands. He should leave Chelsea in the summer and sign for a club which deserves him. Vidic-Man of the match. World class. Dragutinovic-Time to say goodbye.Trying hard but it simply does not work. He is old, he can not keep up with pacey players like Mutu.One of his mistakes could have cost us a goal, caught out of position many times. Obradovic- 10. After Vidic our best player.He did great in defense(made just one mistake) He is developing into world class LB , and I am sure that he will be one day.He also had that brilliant cross when he turned Romanian RB inside and out.He also demonstrated some faking an injury skills bay the end of match(falling to the ground and holding his head although he was just pushed in the chest) They practise it every day in Partizan so I am not surprised that referee fell for it. Practise makes perfect. Krasic-One of best players. He was involved in all 3 goals and I am sure that Romanian LB will have serious life long spine problems after this match. Stankovic: Inivisible offensively because he was shut down, but had good positioning. Milijas- He is very important player in our current. formation. He has an excellent work rate, distributes the balls well, and has good passing skills. Milinko Pantic of our NT.He also showed good compusure when it matter the most, in extra time. Jovanovic-Apart from fortunate tap in he showed nothing. But OK we can forgive him, he was seriously ill and lost 8 kilos. Will get back into the groove.. Zigic-Apart from making dirty fouls he did nothing. Pantelic- He assisted Krasic on our first goal, and all in all I am satisfied with his performance. Subotic- He made a foul on which Romanians scored their 2nd goal. He also missed a ball, in a very dangerous situation in front of our goal. But we must not forget that this was his first match for Serbia and that he was playing in, for him, unnatural position, DM. Jankovic- I did not see him. Did you?
You can see HERE photos from the match, and translate with google to see the opinion of romanian fans.
wow, I didn't catch any of that violence while half-watching/half-listening to the game....what happened
Well overall a tactically smart performance. I have no complaints and I'm glad we got the victory in an intense atmosphere. We are really turning into a team that knows how to play together. By that I mean, the defenders know what the midfielders do, and then our strikers support the midfielders. I'm seeing a growing pattern with Antic and our Serbian team. 1. Attacking fullbacks: Obradovic and Ivanovic keep going up and down the touchline. Against Romania it was less evident, but Obradovic especially had one crazy run where he turned the Romanian defender in, out, in, and then out again. 2. Defensive stability: Vidic and Company are really building a strong foundation at the back. That has been true ever since Vidic got in the national team, so I guess this should be "rebranded" as the Vidic factor. 3. Central midfileder awareness: In Stankovic and Milijas, Antic has given the distributive backbone to our wingers. Stankovic is given the freedom to distribute, and if he is having an off night he picks up the defense and Milijas turns into the distributor. Milijas has really impressed me this campaign. I knew he was good, but I didn't think he was this good. Plus, initially he was a left midfielder so his transformation has been very good. 4. Wing Play: Krasic and Jovanovic, as evidenced by the last three games are critical to our offensive game. They open up the space, they terrorize defenders by running at them, and complement our fullbacks very well. The Ivanovic and Krasic link up is the same as Obradovic and Jovanovic. The overlapping has been amazing, and the dribbling has often led to goals. Our wingers and fullbacks have had 8 of our 10 goals since the France game. vs. France: Ivanovic vs. Lithuania: Krasic, Ivanovic, Zigic vs. Austria: Krasic, Jovanovic, Obradovic vs. Romania: Jovanovic, Vidic, Ivanovic The only weakness we currently have is up front, but Pantelic has looked lively and created the first goal, while Zigic is getting back to form for Racing Santander. Something tells me he will be back to his regular best very soon. I can't wait for the Sweden game, but something tells me Antic will experiment a little bit more. I would like to see this line up: ------------------Stojkovic--------------------- Rukavina-------Vidic-------Subotic-------Kolarov -------------------------Kacar----------------- -----------Kuzmanovic------------------------- Jankovic------------------------------Sulejmani -------------Pantelic------Zigic---------------- I would really want to see it because this is a very attacking youthful line up that would play some exciting football.
Well, there was a handball before your first goal and a clear offside at the third. But that doesn't matter, you diserved to win anyway, good luck at the World Cup. As for our team, there is no hope in this campaign. We have enough good players, but Piturca is not using them. He will be sacked for sure, but it will be too late to save anything.
Thank you for your nice wishes, but there is still a long way to the World Cup. Only the first team qualifies directly. I really did not see that handball and Romanian players did not complain about it either.As for our 3rd goal.... the ball came off your player so it does not count as offside. Ivanovic scored the similar goal against Portugal. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1BHNGm-sVk&feature=related"]YouTube - Portugal - Serbia[/ame]
Chances are those are the people who support our so-called "coach." We were tactically inept and could not defend for our lives. Serbia deserved the game and we deserved nothing. Congrats.
The handball happened when the ball reached the player that shot in the post (Pantelic or something). I doubt any player saw it at that moment. As for the 3rd, the ball was only deviated by one of our defenders. Anyway, as I said, it doesn't matter. As for the World Cup, France looks in shambles as well. You will top the group unless you do major mistakes.
I might eat my words but the French team looked in shambles when I watched them against Lithuania. Were it not for Ribery's moment of genius it would and should have been 0-0. I really think Ribery needs to step it up because it seems to me that the French have lost that creativity since Zidane left. I mean they have two really good players in central midfield. Both Toulalan and Diarra are good but lacked that creative edge about them. Ribery will have to come in from the left and attack and create. He has to become the creative force for France to become a major player for 2010, because currently they can hold possession but not really do anything with it. They beat us in Paris 2-1, but nothing special. I mean we had Krstajic in the back which is like playing with 10 men, and it was Obradovic's first game. I can't wait to play them in Belgrade at the Marakana with Vidic marking Henry and Ivanovic marking Ribery. As for us topping the group, I think if we beat Austria and the Faroe Islands we are the favorites to top the group. We really need to win our remaining games and tie France and we are good. But something tells me there will be more twists in the road.