Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro played some excellent matches in the qualifiers, finishing unbeaten at the top of the table, forcing Spain, who ended two points behind them, into the play-offs.
Mateja Kezman was one of the stars of the team, scoring vital goals when needed, including grabbing the equaliser against Spain.
Serbia and Montenegro World Cup profile continues below
Ilija Petkovic is the manager of Serbia and Montenegro, and he has concentrated on introducing young talent, which he's done very successfully.
Serbia and Montenegro have never appeared at a World Cup before, obviously they have had far less opportunities as they used to be within Yugoslavia.
Serbia and Montenegro have one of the best defences in the world. In the qualifiers, they only conceded one goal, and that was against Spain. Before that match they had gone seven games without conceding a goal - a new world record!
Serbia and Montenegro were drawn in the 'group of death' with two of the favourites for the competition, Argentina and Holland. After their 1-0 defeat by Holland in the World Cup opener Ognjen Koroman and Mateja Kezman criticised coach Ilija Petkovic for being too negative.
However, the defeat was nothing compared to their second game where they were trounced 6-0 by a top-quality Argentinian side - meaning that Serbia and Montenegro failed to progress beyond the group stage.
In their third game they went 2-0 up, but eventually lost to the Ivory Coast 3-2.
Serbia and Montenegro Squad:
Player Club Position Caps Goals
D Jevric Ankaraspor G 40 0
Oliver Kovacevic CSKA Sofia G 3 0
V Stojkovic Nantes G 0 0
D Basta Red Star Belgrade D 2 0
I Dragutinovic Seville D 26 0
M Dudic Red Star Belgrade D 11 0
G Gavrancic Dynamo Kiev D 25 0
M Krstajic Schalke D 45 2
Nenad Djordjevic Partizan Belgrade D 15 1
N Vidic Man Utd D 20 1
Dejan Stankovic Inter M 58 11
I Duljaj Shakhtar Donetsk M 37 2
I Ergic FC Basle M 1 0
O Koroman Terek Grozny M 25 1
A Nadj Partizan Belgrade M 42 3
Predrag Djordjevic Olympiakos M 34 1
Sasa Ilic Galatasaray M 32 5
Z Vukic Portsmouth M 25 6
M Kezman Atl. Madrid F 47 17
D Ljuboja VfB Stuttgart F 15 1
S Milosevic Osasuna F 98 35
N Zigic Red Star Belgrade F 11 3
Serbia and Montenegro World Cup profile by Ben Rosenbaum
