568: 25 March 2011

567 vs Scotland - 568 - 569 vs Slovenia

25 March 2011 - 20:30 CET/19:30 GMT

UEFA 2012 Qualifying Group C

SERBIA (SRB) 2 - 1 NORTHERN IRELAND (NIR) (H-T 0-1)

..

Venue: Red Star Stadium, Belgrade

Attendance: c.200

Referee: Serge Gumienny (BEL)

Assistant Referees: Mark Simons (BEL), Frank Bleyen (BEL)

Fourth Official: Sébastien Delferiere (BEL)

Goals: NIR McAuley (40); SRB Pantelic (65), Tosic (74)

..

Northern Ireland: 4-5-1 (green shirts, white shorts, green socks)

Manager: Nigel Worthington (Game 33. Won 7, Drew 9, Lost 17)

Captain: Chris Baird (Game 3. Won 0, Drew 0, Lost 3)

Players		Club	Gls		Sub	Cap
1	CAMP L.	Nottingham Forest				1
2	CATHCART C.	Blackpool				2
3	EVANS J. .	Manchester United			86>	25
4	McAULEY G.	Ipswich Town		1		27
18	HUGHES A.W.	Fulham				76
6	BAIRD C.	Fulham				50
7	EVANS C.	Manchester United				10
8	CLINGAN S.	Coventry City				26
9	GORMAN J.	Wolverhampton Wanderers			78>	6
10	LAFFERTY K.	Rangers			46>	29
11	BRUNT C.	West Bromwich Albion				32
Substitutes:
15	HEALY D.J. .	Rangers			>46	86
16	FEENEY W.J.	Oldham Athletic			>78	39
17	McCOURT P.	Celtic			>86	6
Unused: TUFFEY J., CRAIGAN S., THOMPSON A., McGANN G.

Serbia: (red shirts, blue shorts, red socks)

Head Coach: Vladimir Petrovic

Captain: Dejan Stankovic

Brkic; Ivanovic, Subotic, Bisevac, Kolarov, Tosic, Ljajic, Krasic ., Stankovic ., Milijas, Pantelic ..

Subs: Saranov (not used), Jovanovic (replaced Ljajic 46), Petrovic (replaced Krasic 86), Obradovic (not used), Ninkovic (replaced Milijas 46), Trivunovic (not used), Ilic (not used).

..

Pre-Match:

Northern Ireland squad
Goalkeepers: Taylor# (Birmingham), Tuffey (Inverness Caledonian Thistle), Camp (Nottingham Forest), Blayney* (Linfield)
Defenders: J Evans (Manchester United), Craigan (Motherwell), Cathcart (Blackpool), McAuley (Ipswich Town), Hughes (Fulham), Hodson (Watford), Thompson (Watford)
Midfielders: Baird (Fulham), McCann (Peterborough United), Brunt (West Brom), Gorman (Wolves), C Evans (Manchester United), Davis# (Rangers), McGinn (Celtic), Clingan (Coventry City), McCourt (Celtic)
Forwards: Healy (Rangers), Feeney (Oldham Athletic), Lafferty (Rangers), Boyce (Werder Bremen)
# Withdrew from the squad due to injury; * Late replacement

..

Serbia squad:

Goalkeepers: Bojan Jorgancevic (Ghent), Zeljko Brkic (Vojvodina Novi Sad), Bojan Saranov (OFK Belgrade).
Defenders: Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea), Pavle Ninkov (Red Star Belgrade), Nenad Tomovic (Lecce), Milan Bisevac (Valenciennes), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Neven Subotic (Borussia Dortmund), Slobodan Rajkovic (Vitesse Arnhem), Aleksandar Kolarov (Manchester City), Ivan Obradovic (Zaragoza).
Midfielders: Dejan Stankovic (Inter Milan), Nenad Milijas (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Zdarvko Kuzmanovic (Vfb Stuttgart), Radosav Petrovic (Partizan Belgrade), Veseljko Trivunovic (OFK Belgrade), Milos Ninkovic (Dynamo Kyiv), Milos Krasic (Juventus), Marko Miric (Spartak Subotica), Zoran Tosic (CSKA Moscow), Adem Ljajic (Fiorentina), Miralem Sulejmani (Ajax Amsterdam).
Forwards: Marko Pantelic (Olympiakos Piraeus), Nikola Zigic (Birmingham), Milan Jovanovic (Liverpool), Brana Ilic (Vojvodina Novi Sad).

Match Reports:

BBC

IrishFA

UEFA

..

Match Photos:

BBC

(from IrishFA.com)

J. Gorman, K. Lafferty, G. McAuley, C. Brunt, L. Camp, J. Evans, A. Hughes

C. Evans, C. Baird, S. Clingan, C. Cathcart

Match Programme:

Notes:

• Due to a riot by Serbian fans during a match in Italy this game was played behind closed doors. Around 200 Northern Ireland fans who had already made arrangements to travel to Belgrade before the ban attended having successfully lobbied UEFA for special dispensation.
• Chris Baird captained Northern Ireland to mark his fiftieth cap.

Match Highlights:

Sources/Credits:

Marty (OWC) for the programme.