Zigic goal gives Serbia 1-0 win over Azerbaijan

Zigic powered his downward header past a defender on the line to give the Serbs a hardly deserved victory in their competitive debut as an independent nation after the split with Montenegro in July.

The Serbians were ordered to play one game in an empty stadium for crowd trouble in their final World Cup qualifier against Bosnia last October.

Their Spanish coach Javier Clemente was happy with the outcome after finding it difficult to motivate the players with no fans present.

"They fought well and made it difficult for us. It was very hard for my players to lift themselves in a ghastly empty stadium," he told a news conference.

"Tension crept in after we failed to score an early goal and the atmosphere in the dressing room is good for the three points we notched up with a below-par performance," he said.

Clemente's 4-3-3 formation proved largely ineffective for the home side as a well-organised Azeri defence stifled Serbia's three-man midfield and cut off the supply routes to the strikers.

The Serbians carved out few chances in the first half and Marko Pantelic squandered the best two inside a minute when goalkeeper Farkhad Veliyev denied him with a couple of superb reflex saves.

Zigic then headed into the side-netting from two metres on the half hour before he got on the end of a good cross from captain Dejan Stankovic to break the deadlock.
Stankovic almost made it 2-0 in the closing stages when his delightful lob from near the halfway line bounced off the bar and Clemente said impatience had prevented Serbia from getting the more convincing result they wanted.

"The lads had a burning desire to kick off the campaign with a more emphatic victory but the lack of patience left a huge gap between the defence and the forwards," he said.
"They are not happy with how they played but it's good to start with a win because this is going to be a gruelling group and a tough one to qualify from."

On Wednesday, Serbia are away to Poland who gave their fans a cold shower with a 3-1 loss at home to Finland, while the Azeris entertain Kazakhstan who held Belgium to a shock 0-0 draw in Brussels on Aug. 16.

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