Serbia hungry for Swedish sojourn
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Article summary
Serbia coach Slobodan Krcmarević insists his side have "no pressure, just big hopes and great desire" as they prepare to face Denmark in Belgrade knowing they are in the box seat for a place in next summer's finals.
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'Great advantage'
Filip Djordjević struck seven minutes from time in Aalborg on Saturday to give Serbia a 1-0 lead in their play-off tie as they attempt to seal their fourth successive appearance in the finals. They have brought that advantage back to Belgrade and on Wednesday, with an expected capacity Partizan Stadium crowd willing them on, they will hope to make it pay. "We have a great advantage," said Krcmarević. "But, if we start to think we are already through then that would be a big mistake. Denmark will not give up; that is the nature of sport so they will be difficult opponents for us."
No Bendtner
The noises coming from the Denmark camp are certainly not of resignation. "I have reviewed the first match in Aalborg on video and it confirmed that there were spells when we worried Serbia and produced chances," said coach Keld Bordingaard, whose hopes of being able to call on Nicklas Bendtner have been scuppered by an ankle injury, a problem also afflicting Winston Reid so Simon Kjær could get his chance. "We have seen how to play against Serbia so now it is simply a question of the team doing just that in Belgrade."
Serbia problems
That capacity crowd – with supporters who attended Saturday's FIFA World Cup win against Lithuania given free tickets – might make the task harder, not to mention Serbia's perigee at this level. "Over the past few years our U21 team has been very successful and we are duty-bound to continue that," continued Krcmarević, who is blighted by selection worries. Miralem Sulejmani, Ljubomir Fejsa and Gojko Kačar are all still injured, Filip Djordjević and Nikola Petković are suspended while FK Partizan duo Zoran Tošić and Ivan Obradović have been called up by the senior side. Krcmarević responded by drafting in FK Borac forward Dragan Milovanović.
Missed chances
That provides some hope for Denmark, though captain Michael Jakobsen has already seen cause for optimism. "We proved in the first match that we are at least as good as they are and produced a lot of chances," he said. "The only problem was that we did not make use of them! We simply have to do that in Belgrade."