CLEMENTE WANTS NO SLIP-UPS FROM SERBIA AGAINST ARMENIA
The Guardian, UK
Oct 10 2006
BELGRADE, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Serbia’s Spanish coach Javier Clemente
warned his team they must take unheralded Armenia seriously in their
Euro 2008 Group A qualifier on Wednesday.
"The Armenians have improved a lot over the past five years and
narrowed the gap in quality between them and stronger European teams.
The players must not think for a minute that it’s going to be easy,"
he told reporters.
"Armenia play defensively with the aim of not conceding too many
goals and the players will get anxious if we don’t open them up with
an early goal," said the 56-year-old Basque.
"But there is no doubt that we are the favourites and I expect the
difference in quality to show on Wednesday."
The Serbians are top of the group with two wins and a draw from their
opening three matches, having registered 1-0 wins over Belgium and
Azerbaijan and a 1-1 draw with Poland.
Armenia lost their opening match 1-0 to Belgium last month and drew
0-0 with Finland on Saturday and are seventh in the eight-team group.
Captain Dejan Stankovic said he would be quite happy with another
win by the odd goal that would leave Serbia in the driving seat
of a tight group also including World Cup semi-finalists Portugal,
Finland and Kazakhstan.
"There is no shame in winning any match 1-0. There is still room for
improvement in our game but as the coach said, we are coming together
as a unit rapidly and I am very optimistic."
Defensive midfielder Igor Duljaj will fill in for suspended right
back Marjan Markovic while Galatasaray forward Sasa Ilic may get a
rare start in a deeper role behind the two strikers.
"He is a quality player but the line-up depends on the rival’s
formation. Ilic may not be a regular starter for Serbia but he is
still a very important player in our squad."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
