23. Serbia

What Went Right?  Used their height, aerial ability and physicality to their advantage. Serbia’s defenders are so good that they never send numbers back, and their defenders usually reward that trust by taking people on and putting a body on opposition attackers. Defense is predicated on brute strength as opposed to anticipation and reading of the game (pretty typical for eastern European teams). Used a direct, one-dimensional, east-west attack to get on the attacking end. They were decent at counterattacks but preferred to get the ball quickly up field as opposed to wasting their time in the middle third. Chose to take people on even when they had the ball, with resulted in a lot of free kicks and set pieces, where they excelled. Didn’t spend a lot of time in possession, yet pounded the ball in the box and took a lot of shots on goal from distance.

What Went Wrong?  Serbia didn’t have the world’s most refined attack. Their one-dimensional, east-west attack didn’t take advantage of space or diagonal runs, and there wasn’t a lot of movement off the ball, just a lot of standing around. Their attack was a manifestation of their physicality, preferring to run through people as opposed to around them, which would bring any kind of direct attacking quality to a sudden stop. Caused a lot of fouls (especially against better, faster athletes), got a lot a cautions, and as a result had to defend a lot of set pieces, and when that happens a few of them result in scores (which offset their many set pieces).

Who Stepped Up To The Plate?  Good job in net by Vladimir Stojkovic. Namanja Vidic is the best defender on the planet. His partner in the center of defense, Neven Subotic, is a star in the making and will draw a lot of interest on the transfer market. Good job closing down the flanks by Aleksander Kolarov and Branislav Ivanovic. This was Dejan Stankovic’s 4th World Cup and he is still one of the better stopper/distributors in the game. Milos Krasic and Nikola got the ball forward into the final third well and got some good service into finisher Milan Jovanovic, who made some quality strikes. Marko Pantelic and Zoran Tosic came off the bench and contributed.

Who Didn’t Show Up?  Not real enamored of Zdravko Kusmanovic and Milos Ninkovic on the wings. They just weren’t able to spread the game onto the wings.

How Was The Coaching?  Radomir Antic has coached at Real Madrid, Atletico and Barcelona. Those teams were tactical nightmares with their ferocious attacks. There isn’t anything he could have done to at least get this side to attack any better. Like I’ve said with other teams in this tournament coached by Serbs: Typical.

Did They Finish Where They Were Expected?  Yep. They did bully the Germans into going down to ten men, opening up an opportunity to take advantage of and getting a surprise win. Too bad they couldn’t build on that.

Now What?  Where’s Red Star Belgrade when you need them? In the early Nineties that team could attack with the best of them. I guess those kind of players and attacking quality don’t exist in Serbia any more.

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