Serbia Montenegro Soccer - Serbia Montenegro Soccer

General Information
Country - Serbia and Montenegro
Capital City - Belgrade
Continent - Europe
Manager - Ilija Petkovic

Team History
Founded 1919
Affiliated 1919

WC participations 7 (1930, 1950, 1958, 1962, 1974, 1990, 1998)
WC honours Semi-finals (1930)
Continental Titles None

World Cup Record:
Year Host Performance
1930 Uruguay Semi finals
1934 Italy -
1938 France -
1950 Brazil Second, Pool One
1954 Switzerland -
1958 Sweden Quarter finals
1962 Chile Fourth place
1966 England -
1970 Mexico -
1974 West Germany Second Group phase
1978 Argentina -
1982 Spain -
1986 Mexico -
1990 Italy Quarter finals
1994 U.S.A. -
1998 France Second Round (last 16)
2002 S.Korea/Japan -
2006 Germany in Group C with Argentina, Netherlands, Cote d’Ivoire
SERBIA & MONTENEGRO Football Team for 2006 FIFA World Cup

Coach:
Ilija Petkovic

Goalkeepers:
Dragoslav Jevric, Oliver Kovacevic, Vladimir Stojkovic.

Defenders:
Ivica Dragutinovic, Nemanja Vidic, Goran Gavrancic, Dusan Basta, Nenad Djordjevic, Milan Dudic, Mladen Krstajic.

Midfielders:
Ivan Ergic, Igor Duljaj, Ognjen Koroman, Dejan Stankovic, Predrag Djordjevic, Albert Nadj, Zvonimir Vukic, Sasa Ilic.

Forwards:
Mateja Kezman, Savo Milosevic, Mirko Vucinic, Nikola Zigic, Danijel Ljuboja.

Serbia & Montenegro Statistics in Group C with Argentina, Netherlands, Cote d’Ivoire
The team is known as 'Plavi (The Blues)'
Record in World Cup Finals (as Yugoslavia 1930 2002)

Jersey No. Name of the Player
1 Dragoslav Jevric
2 Ivan Ergic
3 Ivica Dragutinovic
4 Igor Duljaj
5 Nemanja Vidic
6 Goran Gavrancic
7 Ognjen Koroman
8 Mateja Kezman
9 Savo Milosevic
10 Dejan Stankovic
11 Predrag Djordjevic
12 Oliver Kovacevic
13 Dusan Basta
14 Nenad Djordjevic
15 Milan Dudic
16 Mirko Vucinic
17 Albert Nadj
18 Zvonimir Vukic
19 Nikola Zigic
20 Mladen Krstajic
21 Danijel Ljuboja
22 Sasa Ilic
23 Vladimir Stojkovic

Serbia and Montenegro are playing in Group C along with Argentina, Cote d'Ivoire and the Netherlands. The team is nicknamed Plavi or the Blues. They have participated in the World Cup seven times when they were a part of Yugoslavia. This is Serbia and Montenegro's debut in World Cup Finals. She was in Group 7 of the European qualifying zone with stiff competition from Spain, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Belgium. Serbia and Montenegro was one of the eight European teams that remained undefeated throughout the qualifying campaign. The team won six matches and four matches were drawn and conceded only one goal.

Until 2003, Serbia and Montenegro played under the banner of Yugoslavia. In their very first appearance at the World Cup in 1930, they made it to the semi-finals. In June 2003, they lost to Azerbaijan in the preliminary stage of UEFA EURO 2004. After this coach Illija Petkovic was called back. In his second stint he laid strong foundations for future success of the team. His focus was mainly on building a strong defence.

The star players of Plavi are Kezman, Dejan Stankovic and the experienced Osasuna hitman Savo Milosevic. The team can boast of Europe's best defensive line. Much of the credit of their outstanding performances goes to keeper Dragoslav Jevric and captain Mladen Krstajic.

Coach Petkovic is quite hopeful that balanced team will put forth a commendable performance in their FIFA Finals debut.