Serbia axe Chelsea pair(PA) Friday 21 May 2010
Serbia coach Radomir Antic today cut his FIFA World Cup™ squad to 24 players, with Chelsea duo Slobodan Rajkovic and Nemanja Matic two of the six players to be omitted.
Ajax attacker Miralem Sulejmani, PSV defender Jagos Vukovic, Partizan Belgrade midfielder Nemanja Tomic and Crvena Zvezda striker Dejan Lekic also miss out. Star striker Nikola Zigic was retained and he does not feel any extra pressure after being tipped by Antic to be one of the stars in South Africa.
"The coach's words are not a burden," said the beanpole Valencia forward. "It's good that Antic praised me and I will try to justify his confidence. I always give my best for Serbia and it will always be that way."
Serbia were drawn in Group D alongside Germany, Ghana and Australia.
Revised Serbia FIFA World Cup squad: Vladimir Stojkovic (Wigan), Zeljko Brkic (Vojvodina), Bojan Isailovic (Zaglebie Lubin), Andjelko Djuricic (Leiria); Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea), Antonio Rukavina (1860 Munich), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Neven Subotic (Borussia Dortmund), Aleksandar Lukovic (Udinese), Ivan Obradovic (Real Zaragoza), Aleksandar Kolarov (Lazio); Dejan Stankovic (Inter Milan), Gojko Kacar (Hertha Berlin), Nenad Milijas (Wolves), Zdravko Kuzmanovic (Stuttgart), Radosav Petrovic (Partizan Belgrade), Milos Krasic (CSKA Moscow), Zoran Tosic (Manchester United), Milos Ninkovic (Dynamo Kiev), Milan Jovanovic (Standard Liege); Nikola Zigic (Valencia), Marko Pantelic (Ajax), Danko Lazovic (Zenit St Petersburg), Dragan Mrdja (Vojvodina)
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid=1215494/index.html#serbia+chelsea+pair
