Serbia geared for 'biggest game'

If Serbia's squad needed any reminder of the significance of their second Group A game against Belarus, they got it in bold letters from coach Slobodan Krčmarević when he described Friday's contest as "the biggest match for this generation".

Time to deliver
After holding Italy 0-0, Krčmarević believes Serbia must deliver three points against Belarus to retain realistic hope of a semi-final place. "It will be a very difficult game for us and a very important one," he said. "Right now I can say it will be the biggest match for this generation." It is a view shared by his Belarus counterpart, Yuri Kurnenin, who declared: "Whoever loses will not go further in the competition."

Goals required
With the stakes high, Serbia require goals and Krčmarević is confident they will "score at least once". Despite the absence of a conventional centre-forward – given Filip Djordjević's pre-finals injury – Krčmarević noted that his players created four good chances against Italy. He will likely alter his forward line, dropping Gojko Kačar into a more usual midfield role. Yet while Nemanja Matić has flown home after his metatarsal fracture against Italy, Nemanja Tomić, who hurt his ankle in the same game, will be fit to play some part, having trained on Thursday.

Adventure and aggression
Whatever the lineup, Krčmarević admitted Serbia must show greater adventure. "I can say we will be more offensive than in the first game but also we must be very controlled. We can't just go forward and leave ourselves open at the back. Belarus have some good attacking players and we have to think about that," he said, citing the speed of Leonid Kovel. Greater aggression, meanwhile, is the key to Belarus's chances of bouncing back from their crushing 5-1 defeat by Sweden, according to coach Kurnenin.

'Contact sport'
Noting the statistic that Belarus committed only nine fouls to Sweden's 23 on Tuesday, he said: "We should be more aggressive – in a sporting sense – because if we look at the statistics, we had only nine fouls and that's very few. Football is a contact sport and we should be more aggressive. If we play like that against Serbia we will not be able to win." Kurnenin, back on the bench after his suspension from the first match, will also demand that his players avoid the "huge mistakes" that contributed to the scale of their opening loss in a game where they actually enjoyed more possession.

Qualifying meetings
The Belarus trainer promised "some changes" – Andrei Chukhlei could replace Mikhail Afanasiev in midfield – and takes heart from their efforts against Serbia in qualifying, a 3-1 loss in Belgrade and 1-1 draw in Vitebsk. "We were equal to them and the 3-1 result did not reflect the performance we gave," said Kurnenin, albeit adding: "The Serbian team have progressed a lot – they have players at clubs like Manchester United [FC], [AFC] Ajax and Hertha [BSC] Berlin." That may be true but Krčmarević is taking nothing for granted: "I know what a difficult game awaits us."