Eye on the world

Christian Orthodox believers jump into a frigid lake in Belgrade, Serbia, to retrieve a cross. Orthodox Serbs celebrate Epiphany on Jan. 19, following the old Julian calendar; the race to retrieve a cross that has been dropped into a lake or river is part of the tradition.

Source:washingtonpost.com/

First point nicked off Olympic vice-champions

Serbia national handball team have begun their appearance at the European Championships in Austria with a 29-29 draw against Iceland, chiefly owing their point to goalkeeper Darko Stanic and his late save from a penalty throw.

Having snatched a point off the Olympic silver medalists from Beijing, Serbia will have another chance to replicate their fine performance when they take on another giant tonight, 8.15 CET – reigning European champions Denmark.

Serbia opened the game on a low and managed to score their first goal as late as the sixth minute of play, when Momir Ilic converted a penalty throw. Although Sead Hasanefendic’s men narrowed the initial gap to 3-1 and the Serbia coach tried to reshuffle the team’s play with a different system of defence and early pressure, Iceland continued to torment Serbia. Lacking a clear concept of play and finding the net with only every third shot on target, Serbia’s misery was compounded by an outstanding goal-scoring performance from Iceland’s Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson.

Hasanefendic introduced a number of substitutes in order to reverse Serbia’s fate, but Iceland never intended to drop the lead, not even when two men down. Serbian camp must have been awfully pleased to take the four-point deficit at halftime, a scoreline that bore little witness to the balance of powers on the court.

With two goals from Ivan Stankovic early in the second half, Serbia were resurgent and showed signs of improved confidence and organization in play. On the other end, Iceland were still finishing their own attacks with the greatest of ease and quickly. However, when Serbia’s top scorer Momir Ilic scored his first goal from open play on 35 minutes – his fourth altogether at that time against Iceland and 502nd for the national team – Iceland’s cast-iron defence started to leak.

Serbia’s game was now on a rise, spearheaded by Ilic at left-back, sub Vuckovic at centre back and Toskic at pivot. The team managed to reduce the deficit to only two points on two occasions, with Serbia goalkeepers producing some impressive saves from penalty throws. Serbia succeeded in overcoming the poor display in the first half to battle to a exciting closing stages of their opening match at the Euro 2010.
Atlason and Gunnarsson continued to score goals for Iceland, while Serbia at the other end had a couple of nervy misses as Iceland came to a 28-24 lead after 54 minutes of play. Against all odds and the run of play, Serbia then proved the unique beauty of handball was in a dogged approach to the game.

Stakovic scored six goals from as many shots in the second half, which, coupled with Stanic’s frequent saves, managed to keep Iceland at bay. Key moments in the match were when Serbia pulled another one back with a man down to make it 29-27 for their opposition. As the penultimate minute of play was dying, Toskic scored as Serbia were one goal down for the first time, after which Iceland made a second consecutive attacking foul. Vuckovic then scored his fourth goal of the game to level the score at 29-29. Still, in the dying moments of the game, Gunnarsson was awarded a penalty throw, and Snorri Gudjonsson had a chance to steal the win for Iceland from the seven-meter line. Serbia goalkeeper Stanic came out big and stopped the shot to mark the beginning of Serbia’s celebration at taking a point off the Olympic silver-medalists.
Euro 2010, preliminary round, day 1


Serbia v Iceland 29-29 (11-15)
Linz, Tips Arena
Referees: Reiner and Bernd Methe (Germany)
Serbia: Stanic 14 saves, Kojic 1 goal, Sesum 3, Nikcevic, Stojanovic 2, Toskic 4, Peric, Ilic 7 (4 pens), Markovic 1, Pejanovic 2 saves, Andjelkovic, Lapcevic, Vilovski, Vuckovic 4, Nenadic 1, Stankovic 6.
Iceland: Gustavsson 10 saves, Svavarsson, Geirsson, Palmarsson, Ingimundarson 2 goals, Hallgrimsson, Atlason 7, Sigurdsson 9, Gudjonsson 1, Stefansson 4 (1), Asgeirsson, Petersson 2, Gudmundsson 6 saves, Jakobsson, Gunarsson 4.

Group B standings: Denmark 2 points, Serbia 1, Iceland 1, Austria 0


Source:english.blic.rs/S

Standard Liege’s Jovanovic in Liverpool talks

Recent reports suggest that Liverpool are in discussions with Standard Liege’s Milan Jovanovic.

The 28-year old Serbia international is out of contract this summer and intends to leave the Belgian club on a Bosman transfer.

Jovanovic has been linked with moves to Spanish outfit Valencia as well as Atletico Madrid and Italian giants AC Milan but Liverpool have now moved to attempt to lure him to Anfield.

It is understood Jovanovic will not give an answer this month and could even wait until after the World Cup to switch clubs.

Source:ribalfootball.com/

Brazilian player cleared of wrongdoing

Brazilian Marcos Daniel has been cleared of any wrongdoing after an altercation with a spectator at the Australian Open.

Officials launched an investigation into the incident, which followed his first-round defeat by Colombia's Alejandro Falla on Tuesday, but found no evidence he broke any rules.

"The tournament referees' office has thoroughly looked into an incident regarding Marcos Daniel yesterday afternoon. No further action will be taken," a Tennis Australia statement read.

Organisers have beefed up security this year after the past three championships were marred by violence.

But more than 60 people have been ejected from Melbourne Park in the first three days of the event.

There were 45 ejections on Wednesday, including 35 fans who disrupted the second-round match between Chile's Fernando Gonzalez and Turkey's Marsel Ilhan.

In 2007 around 150 Croatian and Serbian fans engaged in a wild brawl, hitting each other with bottles and flagpoles.

In 2008 police used capsicum spray on a group of rowdy Greek supporters and last year dozens of Serbian and Bosnian fans began throwing chairs and trading punches and kicks.

Source:abc.net.au