Serbia sense their time is now
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Article summary
"It's time to do something special" was the message emanating from the Serbia camp as the players took confidence from their opening victory against Italy.
Article body
"It's time to do something special" was the message emanating from the Serbia camp as the players took confidence from their opening victory against Italy. "Success is not just our dream, it's the dream of the whole Serbian nation," said defender Duško Tošić.
Impressive record
Along with Montenegro, Serbia finished runners-up in the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship and reached the semi-finals last season, when only a 5-4 shoot-out defeat against Ukraine prevented a second successive final appearance. The perennial dark horses are within sight of the knockout stages again – a victory against the Czech Republic on Thursday will send them through irrespective of the outcome of the England-Italy game – so what is the secret of their success? "A good atmosphere and fantastic friendship - nothing else," said Boško Janković, one of four players to have appeared in the last three final tournaments.
Platform for victory
Dejan Milovanović may have scored the only goal against the Azzurrini, a fizzing low drive in the 63rd minute, but it was the central defensive partnership of Tošić and his former OFK Beograd team-mate Branislav Ivanović which provided the platform for victory as the pairing snuffed out the threat of Giampaolo Pazzini and Co. "We are coached brilliantly and are taking things one step at a time as we want success," Tošić said. "Now it's time to finally achieve something, and the only thing left for us now is to win the European title. First, though, we must finish all our group matches in the right way, then look ahead."
'Feet on the ground'
Midfielder Milan Smiljanić echoed those sentiments – "It's time to do something special because we have the quality to do so" – but also urged caution: "We've beaten a great team but our feet are on the ground and we're concentrating on Thursday's match against the Czech Republic. We're favourites and expect victory but maybe a draw would be a good result for us. We have a big chance to reach the semi-finals and can't fail to take it."
