The Serbians used to be one of thee feared footballing nations when the World Cup was first introduced to the scene, earning a respectable fourth place finish in the very first World Cup back in 1930 before a successful run of attempts during the 50’s, finishing as Quarter-Finalists in 1954 & 1958 before falling at the Semi-Final stage once again in 1962, once again finishing as the fourth best side in the finals. However, they haven’t since been anywhere near as prolific and since the 60’s Serbia have only qualified for four finals, five if you include their successful campaign to reach South Africa this year, when they were previously know as Yugoslavia.
Serbia’s most recent appearance in a World Cup was that of 2006 when the Serbian’s couldn’t manage a single point during their three group games, finishing bottom of what proved out to be a very tough group of Holland, Argentina & Ivory Coast. However, it was against Argentina where Serbia got the most limelight, all of it unwanted though, when Serbia crashed to their highest International defeat after a 6-0 mauling at the hands of the Argentine’s. That humiliating defeat also featured the goal of the tournament as Argentina toyed with Serbia with inch perfect passes before Cambiasso slammed home his driven shot. They then went on to lose their last group game 3-2 with the then new boys, Ivory Coast.
We’ll be honest enough to say that not too many of the Serbian full-timers ring any bells but Stankovic has caught out eye on more than one occasion during his time at Italian giants, Inter Milan. The playmaker has a tonne of experience, winning experience at that, and has won no less than 14 honours during his six year spell at the club. However, while he plays a more offensive role for Inter Milan, Stankovic tends to play the anchorman for his country due to Serbia’s lack of quality in the midfield. He does, however, have one lethal shot on him and you’ll often see clips of Stankovic scoring 30 yard+ efforts. The Serbia captain has great on-the-ball vision and can pick out an inch perfect pass. He is Serbia’s main source of creativity and attack builder but he’s not getting any younger at 31 years-of-age.
This guy has come on leaps and bounds since joining English club, Manchester United, back in 2006. His tough, physical style of defending has earned him plaudits from across the European continent and will have plenty of admirers back home in England. Vidic is extremely strong in the air, a great tackler of the ball but, more importantly, has this unique ability to instantaneously read the play. Considering Serbia will spend most of their games on the back foot, the form of Vidic in South Africa will be crucial in how Serbia fare this summer in terms of keeping some of the bigger nations out. Moreover, Vidic is a real goal threat from set-plays and has scored all of his nine Manchester United goals from set-pieces.
The Serb’s aren’t a side we’ve watched all too often but the basic make-up of their team looks very solid. Their centre-back pairing of Vidic (Man Utd) & Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea), whom both have plenty of first-class experience, is a big asset for Serbian manager, Radomir Antic, while Stankovic & Milias look a decent midfield pairing, especially when going forward. We feel their biggest danger factor will be from set-pieces as they pack a punch in the height department, with the likes of Vidic, Ivanovic & Nikola Zigic all climbing above most defenders in terms of natural height. Their main striker is Valencia forward Zigic, of whom is a big aerial specialist for club and country.
Serbia do look a little too one dimensional, with height their only real asset. They do have a number of players who do pose some form of danger when going forward but they do and will rely heavily on set-pieces we feel, especially against the nations which get the ball down and play proper, on the floor, football. They are fortunate in that their centre-backs are world class but that’s as good as it gets in our eyes and they’ll need their defence to be in top form throughout the tournament if they are to surpass their previous ever best performance of fourth place.
Serbia finished qualification as Group 7 winners, fending off the challenges from France & Austria. In all fairness, their group was an easy one on paper but they performed brilliantly to finisher higher than the 1998 winners of the World Cup, France. They lost just two qualifiers along the way, whilst managing a decent +14 goal difference – 5 more than France, a team touted as having more chance this summer then the Serb’s. However, this may also be because Serbia didn’t beat France during qualifying, losing 2-1 in Paris & only managing a 1-1 draw on their own soil.
Milan Jovanovic, a Standard Liege player who is attracting plenty of interest from some of Europe’s top clubs, was Serbia’s more prolific goalscorer during qualifying, scoring 5 goals.
Serbia are a very solid outfit and do have plenty of class in defence. This alone should stand them in good stead and make them a tough opponent to beat. However, the doubts are over whether the Serbian forwards, who haven’t exactly excelled in recent years, can score enough goals on the biggest stage. The World Cup is a pressured environment and we don’t think the Serb’s will be used to this type of expectation and demand. Still, they do have the potential to be an ‘awkward’ side and they have every chance of causing some sort of an upset.