Ghana’s Serbian coach Rajevac swaps loyalty

PRETORIA - Ghana’s Serbian head coach Milovan Rajevac hopes to remain a hero in the West African nation by leading the Black Stars to victory over his native country in Sunday’s football World Cup Group D opener.

There have been fears where Rajevac’s loyalties may lay when Ghana and Serbia clash at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium. But the Cajetina native, who became a national hero when he guided Ghana to their second consecutive World Cup with two rounds of qualification matches to spare, has insisted he will be professional come Sunday.

“There are some suggestions that I may not be fully committed to beating Serbia. That is complete nonsense. I can understand the passion, but they should think again because I am not here to give away matches,” insisted the man they fondly call ‘Milo’ in Ghana.

There were even local media reports that Rajevac’s plush home in Serbia was demolished in what some see as an intimidation tactic by his native country. But the coach has since denied the story, while the Ghana Football Association (GFA) have backed him to do “a professional job”.

At the 1974 World Cup in Germany, Zaire (now DR Congo) were hammered 9-0 by Yugoslavia with some suggesting that the Yugoslav coach of the African Leopards, Blagoja Vidinic, threw away the game to favour his home land.

Rajevac is the third Serbian coach in Ghana national team history and is being asked to at least equal the record achieved by compatriot Ratomir Djukovic, who took the Black Stars to the Round of 16 in Germany four years ago.

With Germany and Australia also drawn in a tough first round Group D, Ghana cannot afford to drop points against a Serbian side who topped a qualifying group that included France, Romania and Austria.

Ghana will have their work cut out for them on Sunday in the absence of injured Chelsea star midfielder Michael Essien. In addition, there remains concerns over the fitness of Italy-based stars Sulley Muntari and Kwadwo Asamoah as well as the experienced Stephen Appiah.

However, the country’s hopes are now on Kevin Prince Boateng to seize his chance and shine in central midfield after he switched his international allegiance from Germany and made his debut earlier this month against Latvia.

The 23-year-old midfielder has proved himself on the big stage as he helped his troubled club Portsmouth reach the English FA Cup final this season. South Africa 2010 is therefore a shop window for him to showcase his undoubted talent to prospective buyers.

The White Eagles of Serbia already have their own stars in Manchester United no-nonsense defender Nemanja Vidic, Inter’s Dejan Stankovic and Nikola Zigic of Valencia. And under the tutelage of former Atletico Madrid coach Radomir Antic the Serbs are set to consign to the history books a dismal outing at the last World Cup.

Talented Serbia were shocked 0-1 by World Cup minnows New Zealand in the build-up to this tournament. But they have since bounced back to beat Cameroon 4-3 in another warm-up match.

“We believe we are capable of qualifying from this group. We know it won’t be easy and we face some tough opponents, but we want to continue our form from the qualifiers and show that we can take on any team in the world,” said striker Zigic.

And at least one Ghanaian is wary of the danger the Serbs’ pose.

“Everyone is talking about Germany and Australia, but I’m scared of Serbia because they are aggressive and technically good,” warned Stephen Appiah.