Tournament review

Road to the final
Power,
poise and
passion
Though hosts Serbia galvanised
the huge Arena of Belgrade
crowd, Europe's traditional
powers ultimately held sway
"We were just a bit short of the level of a very good team. They had the
edge on us in game management and that’s why they deserved to win."
The comment was made by Hungary coach Sito Rivera after his side
had valiantly chased a result in the Group B match against Ukraine only
to succumb by a 6-3 scoreline. However, his remark could legitimately
be applied to a group stage in which the aspirants came close but the
favourites’ know-how prevailed.
Serbia No1 Miodrag Aksentijević
12 SERBIA 2016 TOURNAMENT REVIEW
GROUP A: SERBIA ON TOP
The hosts would probably not have hung the favourites’ tag round their
own necks – especially when a defensive lapse against a free-kick left
them 1-0 down to a Slovenian team that, two years previously, had started
an impressive campaign by defeating Italy, the eventual champions. Andrej
Dobovičnik resorted to the flying keeper during the first half to pre-empt a
Serbian comeback but, as the game wore on, the efforts of predominantly
individual defending took their toll. There was less support for the
direct supplies to attacking pivot Kristian Čujec, allowing Serbia to take
command and score four times after reaching the break at 1-1.
The 5-1 defeat gave Slovenia the task of beating Portugal two days later
to keep hopes of survival alive. Another strong start gave them a 1-0 lead
and a corner allowed them once again to go in level at half-time after
Portugal had come back with two goals – the second a cheeky closerange
back-heel by Ricardinho. Without the injured Rok Mordej (arguably
their best exponent of one-on-one skills) and hampered by the use of few
players, Slovenia’s aggressive marking was slowly diluted and, again, they
conceded four goals after the interval to conclude a brief campaign.
Two days later, title-contenders Portugal dominated the hosts in a game
described by their coach, Jorge Braz, as "one-way traffic". But, despite
a goal of outstanding creativity and beauty by Ricardinho, they were
pegged to 1-1 at the interval. And Serbian industry outdid Portuguese
artistry when an inspired combination between Marko Perić and Slobodan
Rajčević, followed by a late kick-in which caught defenders wrong-footed,
gave the hosts a 3-1 win and top spot in Group A. The repercussion for
Portugal was a quarter-final against the Group B winners, Spain.
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