May 29, 2020
The Serbian Superliga consists of
16 clubs who play each other twice in order to determine the Champions. The bottom
two sides go down, with the sides finishing in the 13th and 14th
places facing relegation play-offs against sides from the Prva Liga, the
Serbian Second Division.
The 2019/20 season was suspended
with four rounds to play, but will now resume to a finish, with matches to be
played behind closed doors.
Crvena Zvezda ( Red Star Belgrade
) were the champions in 2019 and have already won this year’s championship. Only
Red Star and Partizan Belgrade have ever won the Serbian Superliga since its
creation in 2006.
Since the creation of the Yugoslav
League in 1946 the only other Serbian sides to win Championships were Vojvodina
( twice - the last in 1989 ) and the notorious Obilic, under the patronage of
career criminal/thug/war hero ( delete as appropriate ) Arkan, who allegedly bullied,
threatened and coerced their way to win the Serbia and Montenegro league in 1998.
The first match to be played
following the resumption was FK Indija vs Spartak Subotica.
Indija is in the Vojvodina
province of Serbia, and is approximately 35 miles north-west of the capital
Belgrade. It is located on the Belgrade-Subotica-Budapest railway line and the
town’s stadium lies on the old depot site for locomotives. The municipality has
just under 50,000 inhabitants.
FK Indija were promoted last
season, and are in only their second ever season in the Superliga, with their
previous visit ending in immediate relegation in 2011. The Indija Stadium holds
4,500 and the average attendance for the season before the suspension was 1,283.
They play in all green so their supporters are known as Zelena Armija ( Green
Army )
FK Indija currently lie in 14th
place in the table, four points clear of automatic relegation but seven points
away from avoiding the relegation play-offs. They have only gathered four
points away from home but are unbeaten in their last 5 home matches, including
a draw with Red Star. They also have a home Cup Quarter Final against Red Star
to look forward to. Their squad consists entirely of Serbian players, apart
from Montenegrin midfielder Vojin Pavlovic ( who is not in the squad today ) and
Slovene defender Nemanja Vidic ( who didn’t use to play for Manchester United !
). Their 22 league goals this season have been shared between 14 players, and
the top scorer has only 3 goals.
The city of Subotica is on the
Hungarian border and the municipality has just under 150,000 inhabitants. It is
just over 190 kilometres from Belgrade and Hungarian is apparently regularly spoken
by one-third of its population.
Spartak were frequent
participants in the Yugoslav Leagues, yo-yoing being its first and second divisions,
but never set the league alight, a tradition they have continued since the
creation of the Serbia Superliga. They play in the Subotica City Stadium, which
has a capacity of 13,000.
Spartak currently occupy the
mid-table mediocrity position of 7th, having won 11 and lost 11 of
the 26 matches played. Away from home they have on captured 11 points from 13
matches though. Their squad is also mostly Serbian players, although there are three
Montenegrin players and a Bosnian reserve goalkeeper in their ranks, as well as
the ex Pacos Ferrerira midfielder Andrezinho adding an exotic touch to the team.
Andrezinho is not in the squad for today
though. Ex Hapoel Haifa Montenegrin Stefan Denkovic is the top scorer with 7
goals. Spartak’s home colours are sky blue but today are playing in a all dark
blue strip.
Subotica went into the match as 29/20
favourites to win, with Indija at 15/8 and the draw 11/5.
A minute’s silence was observed
before kick-off for those who have died from the virus. As the game started it
looked like there were about 50 or so spectators watching in the two small
stands on the far side of the pitch, with a similar number visible behind some
windows in what is either the hospitality area or the directors’ box. There
didn’t seem to be much evidence of social distancing…………
The ground looked a charming
hotch-potch, with the main uncovered stand along the side where the main camera
was filming, a small terrace enclosure behind one goal, nothing behind the
other goal ( although it looked like a steel yard or scrap metal dealers behind
the wall ), and then two small covered stands with three or four rows of seats either
side of the press box, and changing rooms, office and executive area.
It was also interesting to notice
that the players’ names on the back of their shirts and all the advertising
around the ground were in Roman script whereas the captions on the TV pictures
were in Cyrillic. A quick internet search revealed that the Serbian language
uses both, with Cyrillic being used in formal circumstances, and Latin in more
common usage. You learn something every day !
Indija took an early lead when
centre back Mihailo Jovanovic, who has previously played for three sides in the
Czech Republic, stretched above his marker to head home a corner from the edge
of the six-yard box.
However, the lead didn’t last long
as Spartak scrambled home the equaliser after a headed corner had been blocked
by the Indija keeper. The goal was credited to ex-Partizan man Montenegrin Nemanja
Nikolic. 1-1 after 9 minutes
Things didn’t look good for
Spartak when a minute later their second top goal scorer Lazar Tufegdzic had to
go off injured, but Spartak looked the better side. Indeed, they should have
taken the lead after 22 minutes when a long ball put Nikolic clear with a one
on one with Indija’s keeper. He should have scored but unselfishly decided to
lay off to his unmarked colleague. Unfortunately though his casual pass went
straight to the retreating defender who cleared for a corner.
Ten minutes later a quick throw-in
caught the Indija defence napping and again Nikolic was clear. Again, he unselfishly
decided to cross to the far post rather than shoot but Jovanovic got back to
clear before Sreckovic could tap-in.
It remained 1-1 at half-time, and
Nikolic was substituted at the break. The second half was even with very little
happening, with the one good chance falling to Indija’s Vladan Milosavljev who
when put clear trod on the ball and fell over. The diminutive ex-Red Star man
with experience of playing in Czech Republic, Greece, Albania and Russia looks
like a player in the twilight of his career, and probably could do with losing
a pound or two to continue playing at this level.
With 30 minutes to go it started
raining and it quickly got heavier so that puddles were soon visible both on
the pitch and the camera lens. Just when it looked like both sides had settled
for a point a piece, the ball fell for Spartak’s Milan Marcic, whose long range
shot with the outside of his right foot curled over the Indija keeper into the
top corner of the net. A piece of quality not keeping with most of the match,
although perhaps the Indija keeper might have done better.
Indija were unable to generate
any clear chances in the last twenty minutes and Spartak eased to a deserved
victory to leave Indija facing at best, a relegation play-off and still in
danger of automatic relegation.
In truth this was a match of poor
quality. Indija’s build up play was generally slow and laboured and it was
fairly clear which team was struggling near the bottom of the table and which
one was upper mid-table. Spartak looked the better team and had they taken
their chances they could have won more easily. The player that caught the eye
was Spartak’s centre back, 21 year old Mihaljo Ivancevic who looked composed
and capable of playing at a decent level. It is always difficult to compare the
different standards of football, but this matched looked to be comparable to
Isthmian League/Southern League in the UK, and certainly inferior to the level
of the Belarus Premier League. The ground had a certain appeal though, and had
I been in the stadium I’m pretty sure I would have enjoyed it much more than
watching in my living room !
Official highlights ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKHIOywmfYE
Official highlights ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKHIOywmfYE
No comments:
Post a Comment