Kezman at the double for Yugoslavia
Wednesday, April 17, 2002
Article summary
Yugoslavia 4-1 Lithuania Mateja Kezman scored twice as the hosts secured a convincing win.
Article body
Yugoslavia 4-1 Lithuania
Mateja Kezman scored twice as Yugoslavia beat Lithuania 4-1 in today's friendly encounter in Smederevo.
Comfortable win
The PSV Eindhoven striker struck either side of half-time for Dejan Savicevic's side, adding to goals from Sasa Ilic and teenaged debutant Bojan Brnovic to complete a comfortable win in front of a crowd of around 15,000.
Penalty miss
Yugoslavia, who failed to qualify for this summer's FIFA World Cup finals, even missed a penalty in the last minute as they continued their build-up to the EURO 2004™ qualifying campaign.
Ilic opener
FK Partizan midfield player Ilic opened the scoring in the 16th minute with a crisp shot from inside the penalty area, but Lithuania shocked the home fans just four minutes later when Raimondas Zutautas beat goalkeeper Dragoslav Jevric with a well-placed header.
Double strike
Kezman restored Yugoslavia's lead in the 32nd minute with an instant volley, before he ended the game as a contest with his second 14 minutes from time. Brnovic then capped a dream debut with a header from Vladimir Ivic's cross to complete the scoring. Ivic should have added a fifth in injury time but Lithuania goalkeeper Saulius Kurskis parried his penalty kick.
'Promising future'
Savicevic was pleased with the efforts of his young players. "It was a good team performance and some of these youngsters have shown that Yugoslavian soccer has a promising future," he said.