Inconsistent Serbia left to rue near misses
Reuters - Thursday 24 June 2010, 07:57
NELSPRUIT - Serbia had high hopes of
reaching the knockout stage of the World Cup but inconsistency,
poor finishing and questionable team selection cost them dearly
and left them bottom of a tight Group D.
Having lost their opening game to Ghana 1-0, the Serbians
bounced back superbly to beat Germany by the same score, only to
be defeated by Australia 2-1 when advancing to the last 16
seemed within reach.
Serbia missed too many clear-cut chances in all three
matches and conceded soft goals, while the team also struggled
to keep up with a high-tempo game throughout the tournament.
Their coach Radomir Antic put on a brave face after the
Australia defeat and defended his players while also blaming the
refereeing for an early exit. However, once the dust has
settled, he is more likely to take a good look at the mirror.
"I have no complaints about the team effort, we deserved a
lot more and we are upset about some of the decisions that
didn't go our way in the match against Australia," Antic told a
news conference after seeing his team go out.
"This generation will definitely stay together because it's
made a good impression and we have a lot to look forward to in
the future."
FRESH BLOOD
Perhaps Serbia do, but only if Antic is prepared to inject
some fresh blood into the side and be more flexible when his
automatic starters misfire and run out of steam, as they
invariably did in every match.
The stubborn 61-year old coach was unequivocally loyal to
towering striker Nikola Zigic, who kept missing one sitter after
another, while he kept the crafty Zoran Tosic on the bench until
the final 30 minutes of Serbia's futile campaign.
When Serbia were 2-0 down against Australia, Antic threw on
Tosic and the diminutive winger made an immediate impact,
setting up fellow substitute Marko Pantelic to produce a
dramatic finish.
Captain Dejan Stankovic also looked a spent force, unable to
produce the same kind of consistency for Serbia over 90 minutes
as he did for his club Inter Milan as a role player during their
treble-winning season.
But perhaps the biggest disappointment was out-of-form
central defender Nemanja Vidic, who conceded the team was
ill-equipped for gruellng battles against fitter, hard-working
opponents doing more running off the ball.
"We got punished because Australia had the courage to attack
and put pressure on us in the second half, while we struggled to
keep up with the torrid pace of the game," said Vidic.
"We are bitterly disappointed because we played some good
football in fits and starts and it just wasn't enough to fulfil
our ambition of progressing to the knockout stage of the
competition."
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