Soccer World Cup 2010 / Serbia

This article covers the Serbian national soccer team at the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa .

qualification

The Serbs started successfully into the World Cup with a home win against the Faroe Islands . The following game against France in Saint-Denis ended in a narrow defeat for Serbia. After Thierry Henry and Nicolas Anelka scored the goals for the French to take them 2-0, Branislav Ivanović only managed to hit the next goal. The Serbian national team achieved two clear wins in the following games against Lithuania and Austria .

After the Lithuanians were defeated 3-0, three points could also be scored in Vienna. Miloš Krasić , Milan Jovanović and Ivan Obradović scored the guests with three goals in the lead after 24 minutes, Marc Janko scored the Austrians only goal after 80 minutes. The Serbs were also able to win in the three following games against Romania , Austria and the Faroe Islands and relegate the French to second place in the group. The subsequent direct encounter with France ended with a 1-1 draw. After Nenad Milijaš gave the Serbian lead with a penalty goal, Thierry Henry marked the final score with the equalizer in the first half.

In the penultimate match of the qualification, Serbia defeated the Romanians 5-0 after a strong second half and was able to qualify early for the finals of the 2010 World Cup, while France had to play two more barrage games. The final game in Lithuania was just lost. After Mindaugas Kalonas scored the opening goal for the hosts, Zoran Tošić equalized for Serbia, but Lithuanian defender Marius Stankevičius scored the winning goal for the Lithuanians. Serbia's top scorer during qualifying was Milan Jovanović, who scored five goals. Serbia starts the 2010 World Cup in a group with Ghana , Germany and Australia .

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Serbia	22: 8	22nd
2	France	18: 9	21st
3	Austria	14:15	14th
4th	Lithuania	10:11	12
5	Romania	12:18	12
6th	Faroe Islands	5:20	4th

	Serbia - Faroe Islands		2: 0 (1: 0)
	Goal scorers: Jón Rói Jacobsen (own goal), Nikola Žigić
	France - Serbia		2: 1 (0: 0)
	Goal scorers: Thierry Henry , Nicolas Anelka ; Branislav Ivanović
	Serbia - Lithuania		3: 0 (2: 0)
	Goal scorers: Branislav Ivanović , Miloš Krasić , Nikola Žigić
	Austria - Serbia		1: 3 (0: 3)
	Goal scorers: Marc Janko ; Miloš Krasić , Milan Jovanović , Ivan Obradović
	Romania - Serbia		2: 3 (0: 2)
	Goal scorers: Ciprian Marica , Dorel Stoica ; Milan Jovanović , Dorel Stoica (own goal), Branislav Ivanović
	Serbia - Austria		1: 0 (1: 0)
	Goal scorers: Nenad Milijaš
	Faroe Islands - Serbia		0: 2 (0: 1)
	Goal scorers: Milan Jovanović , Neven Subotić
	Serbia - France		1: 1 (1: 1)
	Goal scorers: Nenad Milijaš ; Thierry Henry
	Serbia - Romania		5: 0 (1: 0)
	Goal scorers: Nikola Žigić , Marko Pantelić , Zdravko Kuzmanović , Milan Jovanović (2)
	Lithuania - Serbia		2: 1 (1: 0)
	Goal scorers: Mindaugas Kalonas , Marius Stankevičius ; Zoran Tošić

Serbian contingent

National coach Radomir Antić reduced his provisional squad by six field players on May 21, 2010. Slobodan Rajković (Twente Enschede), Nemanja Matić (Chelsea FC), Miralem Sulejmani (Ajax Amsterdam), Jagoš Vuković (PSV Eindhoven), Nemanja Tomić (Partizan Belgrade) and Dejan Lekić (Red Star Belgrade) were removed from the list. The final decision on the World Cup participants in the goalkeeping position was not made until June 1, when Željko Brkić (Vojvodina Novi Sad) was deleted from the squad.

No.	Surname	Club before the start of the World Cup	birthday	Games	Gates
goalkeeper
1	Vladimir Stojkovic	Wigan Athletic	07/28/1983	3	0	0	0	0
12	Bojan Isailović	Zagłębie Lubin	03/25/1980	0	0	0	0	0
23	Anđelko Đuričić	União Leiria	11/21/1980	0	0	0	0	0
Defender
2	Antonio Rukavina	TSV 1860 Munich	01/26/1984	0	0	0	0	0
3	Aleksandar Kolarov	Lazio Rome	11/10/1985	2	0	1	0	0
5	Nemanja Vidić	Manchester United	10/21/1981	3	0	1	0	0
6th	Branislav Ivanović	Chelsea FC	02/22/1984	3	0	1	0	0
13	Aleksandar Luković	Udinese Calcio	10/23/1982	2	0	1	1	0
16	Ivan Obradović	Real Zaragoza	07/25/1988	1	0	0	0	0
20th	Neven Subotić	Borussia Dortmund	December 10, 1988	2	0	1	0	0
midfield player
4th	Gojko Kačar	Hertha BSC	01/26/1987	1	0	0	0	0
7th	Zoran Tošić	1. FC Cologne	04/28/1987	1	0	0	0	0
10	Dejan Stanković	Inter Milan	09/11/1978	3	0	0	0	0
11	Nenad Milijaš	Wolverhampton Wanderers	04/30/1983	1	0	0	0	0
17th	Miloš Krasić	CSKA Moscow	11/01/1984	3	0	0	0	0
18th	Miloš Ninković	Dynamo Kiev	December 25, 1984	2	0	1	0	0
19th	Radosav Petrovic	FK Partizan Belgrade	03/08/1989	1	0	0	0	0
22nd	Zdravko Kuzmanović	VfB Stuttgart	09/22/1987	3	0	1	0	0
striker
8th	Danko Lazović	Zenit Saint Petersburg	05/17/1983	3	0	0	0	0
9	Marko Pantelić	Ajax Amsterdam	09/15/1978	2	1	0	0	0
14th	Milan Jovanović	Standard Liege	04/18/1981	3	1	0	0	0
15th	Nikola Žigić	Valencia CF	09/25/1980	3	0	1	0	0
21st	Dragan Mrđa	FK Vojvodina Novi Sad	01/23/1984	0	0	0	0	0
Trainer
	Radomir Antić		11/22/1948

Games

Preliminary round

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Germany	5: 1	6th
2	Ghana	2: 2	4th
3	Australia	3: 6	4th
4th	Serbia	2: 3	3

After the defeat in the opening game against Ghana, Serbia's chances were already significantly reduced. In a turbulent game against group favorites Germany with a dismissal and a penalty awarded by the Germans, the first three points were still scored. The final game against Australia could be kept open for a long time, but then lost with 1: 2 and thus missed the chance to advance in the tournament when they first participated as an independent state.

• Sunday, June 13, 2010, 4 p.m. in Pretoria Serbia - Ghana 0: 1 (0: 0)
   
• Friday, June 18, 2010, 1.30 p.m. in Port Elizabeth Germany - Serbia 0: 1 (0: 1)
   
• Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 8.30 p.m. in Nelspruit Australia - Serbia 2: 1 (0: 0)
   

Web links

• Results of the Serbian national team during qualification
• All matches of the preliminary round at a glance
• Squad Serbia

Individual evidence

1. ↑ France - Serbia (match report)
2. ↑ Austria - Serbia (match report)
3. ↑ Serbia - France (match report)
4. ↑ Lithuania - Serbia (match report)
5. ↑ skysports.com: Chelsea pair get Serbia ax (May 21, 2010)