http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/22/AR2006052200714.html Seeing that these two countries will pretty much be seperate by the time the first game rolls around, what will this do to the team? I am sure FIFA won't change anything, but does this kind of turmoil mean this team will struggle, or come together in what will ostensibly be their only World Cup ever as a combined country?
UEFA Qualifying for 2008 has also been scheduled!! If Montenegro wants to qualify as a nation, it will have to set up its own FA and league, and then wait until 2008 for World Cup 2010 qualifying.
See? That's the kind of information I needed before I posted!! I think I did read that only 5% of the S&M population are classified as Montenegrins...
The Montenegro might be dropped from the team name, and maybe the Montenegrins on the team might not play, but that's it. I believe the impact will be minimal.
1. What a logistical nightmare! All the media guides, publications, and whatever else is associated with the Cup will have to be fixed in the next 2 and a half weeks. 2. If you were one of the Montenegrins, this would probably be your last chance to play in the World Cup. Do you stay on the team and play through the cup or are you done as of now?
They qualified as Serbia and Montenegro. Previously it was the name of one country. Shortly it will be two names for two countries. However, I don't see any reason not to include the named players or for the named players to not play and represent the now two nations!!
I imagine a lot depends on whether the 2 Montenegrins in question consider themselves ethnic Serbs living in Montenegro or ethnic Montenegrins living in Montenegro. In the former Yugoslavia, ethnicity tends to trump all other forms of self identification.
Arguably the vast majority of Monetnegrins are 'ethnic Serbs'. The only signifcant difference between an ethnic Serb, ethnic Bosnian or and ethnic Croatian is their religion (whether practicing or nominal), but Monetengrins and Serbs share pretty much the same religion. A Serbian nationalist would idenitify the Montenegrins as ethnic Serbs and there are Montenegrins who are Serbian nationalists with no connection to Serbia other than being Montenegrin. We're not witnessing the same kind of turmoil as we saw when Yugoslavia broke up. In football terms I think it's quite likely there will be a combined Serbian and Montenegran team for the immediate future (certainly for the WC and almsot defintely for Euro 2008) and the ramifications for the World Cup team are minimal.
I think if the team qualified as Serbia And Montenegro, they will just have to play as that side too. Even if there are only 2-3 Montenegrins on the team, it would still be technically unfair on Montenegro to drop them out of the tournament and keep Serbia. Serbia may have been the part that brought them to the WC, but officially Montenegro played a part too, so you can't count them out. what it comes down to is whether the Montenegrin internationals wanna play on the NT. If they do, they have a right to do so(assuming they are selected) because they helped the side to qualify. really, even if the whole side contains just Serbs, the name would have to stay as Serbia And Montenegro as it was Serbia And Montenegro that qualified for the World Cup, not Serbia.
It really really isn't a major issue, we're not going to see blood shed, there's no great enemity between Serbs and Montenegrains and the countries will not seprate even in a de facto sense until long after the World Cup. The only impact we will see is the impact that impending seperation has upon the national mood in serbia and Montenegro and in turn on the WC squad.
The team (Serbia and Montenegro) will remain the same until 2008. But what could well happen with some Montenegrin players is they may take up Serbian citizenship later and play for Serbia so they can continue to play for a top notch national team. Remember how a lot of non-Russian players in the USSR got Russian citizenship after the USSR broke up so they would be on a good team?
Remember that West Germany still competed (and won) in 1990 so they probably will still be Serbia and Montenegro.
From Yoguslavia to Serbia and Montenegro to Serbia.......and Montenegro. Its gonna be like four countries all rolled into one. Thats 7 teams in group E. haha.