WC predictions and bets - Serbia

Serbia always have a good team. The problem is, before every competition (I mean Euro or WC), public and domain press declare us as favorites from the shadow and put semi-final as a target. Which is usually unrealistic, of course. Huge disappointing was following.

 

This time was the same. But we lost against probably the worst team in SA,  New Zealand and played, for our standards, poor game vs. Poland. Pressure is decreasing and it looks like “Raddy” Antic’s mind game, more than real crisis. And even players support that. Ivanovic criticizes team’s effort (which is unusual from him to criticizes anything but himself), Vidic talks about international retirement (bad timing at least)… No, I can’t believe in all that showing. Last friendly is Cameroon at home. Another bad result could (seriously) damage a self confidence. Impressive win would irritate journalist to write rubbish again. So, my pick here is Serbia to win with a goal difference (@ 3.60 bet365).

 

We have very good team once again. Who have better defense line than us? Kolarov-Vidic-Subotic-Ivanovic. One of the best, anyway. Midfield with Stankovic in the center and Krasic/Jovanovic on the wings looks very dangerous. Different variations in attack with 202cm Zigic (new Birmingham acquisition) in every of them. Yes, I’m sure we can make a trouble to any side in SA. The weakest link is goalie. If Stojkovic performs just decent, we could be the biggest surprise down there. Otherwise, he could bury us easily. Differently from other occasions, we finally look like a team. No spoiled stars, they really play for each other.

 

Group. Ballack was a heart and the soul of German team (same with Essien and Ghana). New skipper is Lahm?! He could be a captain, but he’s not a leader. Schweinsteiger? C’mon. Also, I don’t think Klose feels fine for being overlooked. Managers. Antic, although I don’t like him too much, is a big name. He was coach of Real Madrid, made a great success in city’s rival Atletico, was in charge in Barca and I think it’s fair to say he’s one of the better managers at WC (top 10 I’d say). His German opposition is… To be honest, I don’t rate even Klinsmann to high and his pupil? Ghana’s manager is, let me remind you, Serbian Rajevac. Australia won’t hurt anybody. My gamble here is Serbia to be first in the group - 3.75 at Ladbrokes (was 4.50 somewhere grrr…).

 

And who knows. If we finish 1^st, we’d face USA and El Pibe’s Argentina. Semi-final won’t be impossible then. Serbia to reach semi-final is 9.00 at Ladbrokes.

 

For the end. We’re well known with our big failures. If you don’t like us, consider to take Serbia to finish 4^th in the group @ 4.3 Sportingbet.

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Friday's gossip column

TRANSFER GOSSIP

Real Madrid plan to make a stunning £90m bid for Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney - not to mention wages of £250,000 a week for five years - and also have England boss Fabio Capello in their sights.(The Sun) 
United are keeping a close eye in James Milner's contract negotiations at Aston Villa as Reds boss Sir Alex Ferguson prepares to reshape his Old Trafford squad this summer. (Daily Telegraph) 
Manchester United are monitoring £9m-rated Panathinaikos midfielder Sotiris Ninis.(Daily Mail) 
Italian giants Juventus will seek to tempt Liverpool's under-pressure manager Rafael Benitez with a deal worth £16m over four years, plus a spending kitty of £70m.(Daily Mail) 
Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic is a £15m target for AC Milan, who believe the Blues will bid for Inter Milan full-back Maicon this summer.(Daily Mail)
Barcelona are plotting a raid on Arsenal this summer, with full-back Gael Clichy - not midfielder Cesc Fabregas - their top target.(Daily Mail) 
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has been given the green light for a major summer spending spree after chairman Peter Hill-Wood revealed more money "than for a long time" was available - thought to be around £25-£30m. (Daily Star)
Fabregas and Wenger have been left incensed by Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood's claim that Fabregas "would not even get in" the Barcelona team.(The Sun) 
Young Gunners midfielder Jack Wilshere has told Wenger he wants to stay on loan at Bolton if he cannot get first-team football at the Emirates Stadium.(The Sun) 
Everton and Tottenham sent scouts to run the rule over Paris Saint-Germain's Turkey striker Mevlut Erdinc in his side's 3-1 win over Bordeaux last weekend. (Daily Mail) 
Sunderland look to be losing the battle to sign Kevin Kuranyi after Dinamo Moscow offered the Germany striker £85,000 a week to sign for them. (Daily Mail)
Wigan midfielder Paul Scharner has put a question mark over his part in boss Roberto Martinez's fight for survival after storming out of the DW Stadium after being substituted suring Wednesday's 0-0 draw with Portsmouth. (Daily Mirror) 
Stoke boss Tony Pulis is ready to reward defender Abdoulaye Faye with a new contract.(The Sun)

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OTHER GOSSIP


A former Syria international claims to be close to buying Liverpool. Talks between businessman Yahya Kirdi and Anfield owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks are alleged to be at "an advanced stage". Former Celtic captain Andy Lynch says he has been brought on board by the Gulf-based millionaire.(Daily Mirror) 
Liverpool striker Fernando Torres could have played his last club game this season after being forced to undergo another scan on his injured knee. (Daily Star) 
Greater Manchester Police are to impose a large-scale alcohol exclusion zone and increase patrols in Manchester city centre in an effort to prevent Saturday's derby suffering a repeat of the disturbances that marred January's Carling Cup semi-final first leg at Eastlands. (Daily Mail) 
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and his City counterpart Roberto Mancini will be told to keep a lid on their players' derby-day goal celebrations in a warning from Manchester police.(Daily Mail) 
City striker Carlos Tevez and United defender Gary Neville, two of the central figures in the acrimony that has surrounded this season's Manchester derbies, will be under police orders not to do anything that could incite crowd trouble on Saturday.(The Guardian) 
Real Madrid winger Cristiano Ronaldo has announced he will take legal action against a Spanish television program, "categorically" denying accusations he held wild parties before and after the defeat to rivals Barcelona.(Daily Mirror) 
Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon claims he is fit to return from a groin injury and play his first game of 2010 when Spurs host Chelsea on Saturday.(The Sun) 
MK Dons manager Paul Ince is facing the sack in a drastic cost-cutting move.(Daily Mirror) 
The Premier League has moved to introduce tough new measures to flush out potentially "unfit" club investors in the wake of growing criticism over poor ownership and spiralling debt. (The Times) 
Broadcaster ESPN will consider supporting radical innovations to the FA Cup including moving the latter rounds to midweek and scrapping replays.(Daily Telegraph) 
Roma boss Claudio Ranieri, the former Chelsea manager, is the new favourite to become the next Italy coach with Marcello Lippi set to leave his post after the World Cup.(Daily Mirror) 
Former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier is being lined up a the new Wolsburg boss, with Markus Babbel as his assistant. (Daily Mirror) 

AND FINALLY

Sunderland striker Darren Bent is to wed Sir Alex Ferguson's former daughter-in-law Nadine Ferguson, who separated from Sir Alex's son Darren in 2007. Nadine announced the news on social networking site Twitter.(The Sun) 
Manchester City winger Adam Johnson is ready to miss out on his summer holiday - in the hope he can book a dream ticket to the World Cup with England. (Daily Star) 
Hull boss Iain Dowie has hit out at the "iPod generation" of players for hiding behind their "big earphones" and forgetting what has got them to where they are.(Daily Mirror)
www.bbc.co.uk

Wednesday's gossip column

TRANSFER GOSSIP

Under-fire Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez wants to sign two players in January, with Aston Villa's former Reds striker Emile Heskey being one of them.(Daily Mirror) 
New Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini will make strengthening his defence a priority in the new year. West Ham centre-half Matthew Upson (£10m), Inter Milan full-back Maicon (£15m), Juventus full-back Giorgio Chiellini (£10m) and Bolton's Gary Cahill (£10m) are all on the wanted list.(Daily Star) 
And City striker Craig Bellamy could be the first player to be shown the door after clashing with Mancini in his first training session. Mancini has reportedly ordered double training sessions but Bellamy was only expecting a light workout because of a recurring knee injury.(The Sun) 
Valencia striker David Villa believes the time is right for a switch to England after failing to secure moves to Barcelona and Real Madrid.(The Times) 
Sporting Gijon midfielder Michel is to become Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung's first signing.(Daily Mirror) 
Manchester United have bid £9m plus Nani for Benfica winger Angel di Maria.(Daily Mail) 
Everton are in talks with Valencia midfielder Manuel Fernandes about the possibility of the 23-year-old returning to Goodison Park for a third loan spell.(Daily Mirror) 
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is under pressure from the club's shareholders to spend big in January. Wenger wants to bring in a striker and West Ham's Carlton Cole, Andre-Pierre Gignac of Toulouse and Bordeaux's Marouane Chamakh have all been linked with the Gunners.(Daily Mirror) 
Real Madrid are keen on in-form Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic.(Daily Mail) 
Tottenham defender Michael Dawson is poised for a move to Sunderland.(Daily Mirror) 
Former Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant is set for a return to the Premier League after being told by Spanish club Real Zaragoza that he is no longer wanted. Aston Villa are thought to be interested in the 26-year-old.(The Sun) 
Everton are considering making a loan move for former Arsenal winger Jose Antonio Reyes, who is now at Atletico Madrid. (Daily Mail) 
And Everton will battle it out with Tottenham for Watford's England Under-21 goalkeeper Scott Loach. (Daily Star)
Sunderland boss Steve Bruce wants to sign Coventry goalkeeper Keiren Westwood as his new number one.(Daily Mirror) 
Portsmouth manager Avram Grant could still be prevented from signing players in the new year, even if the club pay off all their transfer debts.(Daily Star) 
But if the ban is lifted, Grant wants to buy Wigan midfielder Olivier Kapo.(Daily Mirror) 
New Queens Park Rangers manager Paul Hart will go to his former club Portsmouth to try to sign defender Mike Williamson and striker Tommy Smith.(The Sun) 
Wolves boss Mick McCarthy is interested in Celtic winger Niall McGinn, who is valued at £1.5m.(Daily Mail) 
Glasgow giants Celtic are set to join Newcastle in the race to sign Sheffield United defender Matthew Kilgallon.(The Sun) 

OTHER GOSSIP

Former England, Tottenham and Chelsea manager Glenn Hoddle is set for a return to the English game with Championship side Reading.(Daily Mirror) 
New Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini is not convinced that his tenure at Eastlands will last beyond next summer.(Daily Mail) 
Notts County director of football Sven-Goran Eriksson is closing in on a £2m buy-out at the club, with backing from Scandinavian investors. (Daily Express)
Sunderland midfielder Jordan Henderson's impressive form has alerted England boss Fabio Capello.(The Independent) 
Saudi prince Faisal bin Fahad bin Abdullah is ready to buy the 50% stake of Liverpool co-owner George Gillett.(Daily Mail) 

AND FINALLY

As captain of England, John Terry is known to millions but that did not prevent the Chelsea defender from being snubbed when saying hello to darts player James Wade at a chemist in Surrey. "I thought it was someone trying to be a pest so I gave him the flick," explained Wade. "But a few hours later he texted my girlfriend with the message 'How rude is your other half?'. I've never been so embarrassed in my life."(Daily Star)

www.bbc.co.uk

Northern Ireland - Serbia

Northern Ireland will miss another big competition. And while in previous campaign as underdogs were very close, this qualifiers entered with bigger ambitions but reached only fourth place in group. They gain English style of play characterized with fighting spirit, national coach has a decent squad, but simply lack in quality when they face some of the best European teams (if we can say so for Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic or Poland). Two best players are young Man.Utd. star Jonny Evans and Sunderland’s striker David Healy. Healy didn’t repeat the performances from campaign for EURO when he was the best European goal scorer and probably because the lack of first team play at Stadium of Light scored only one goal in ten group games. Small amount of goals also was the main reason for recent national team failure as they didn’t score in two last and decisive games (Slovakia 0-2 at home and Czech Republic 0-0 away). However, coach Nigel Worthington has called the best available players. Only missings will be Coventry midfielder Sammy Clingan and striker from Burnley Martin Paterson. Northern Ireland never lack in motivation and I expect their decent display.

 

Serbia passed very strong group consisted of France, Romania, Austria, Lithuania and Faroe Islands. With seven wins and 22 points on the balance, booked the ticket for the final countdown in South Africa and left France short handed. New national team coach, Radomir Antic has brought collective play and fighting spirit that were never characteristics of Serbia’s games. With excellent tactical leadership and squad based on Vidic and Ivanovic in defense line, Stankovic, Krasic and Jovanovic in midfield and Zigic and Pantelic in attack, team surprised announced group favorites France, Romania and whole European audience reaching the first place in group. Second of two defeats (first was in Paris 1-2), Serbia faced in last round in Lithuania 1-2. Cold weather and freezing rain in Vilnius, extremely bad pitch and two penalty kicks for the opponent were the main reasons for defeat that took off the celebration smiles. So, Serbs traveled to Belfast with intention to return a good mood. Antic can not count on key midfielder Dejan Stankovic, regular striker Marko Pantelic and defender from the bench Ivica Dragutinovic. He’ll mix the cards and try some tactical solutions, but anyway team that will start the game at Windsor Park will be more than competitive.

 

Northern Ireland have a decent squad, but will face the stronger opponent than they used to play against. Although they’ll play at home and will have fans’ support, clear advantage is on visitors’ side. Serbia  will be very serious, friendly games are important for self confidence and I expect their attacking attitude and win. Probably without a goal conceded. Best odd is at Betfair, 2.35. Away win.

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