Serbs delirious over victory against Germany

BELGRADE - Neither rain nor an approaching storm stopped hundreds of delirious fans from gathering in downtown Belgrade and other Serbian cities Friday to celebrate Serbia’s 1-0 victory over favoured Germany in the football World Cup.

Groups of youngsters strode the streets of Belgrade chanting “Serbia” and waving flags. During the match, the city centre was ghostly quiet with bars and pubs full of men, and an occasional girl, watching the game.

After the match, the streets began filling with cars honking horns and people waving and chanting. An occasional firecracker was heard as well.

“I can not believe this!!!” an excited fan wrote on one of the websites. “Ahhhh, a saved penalty is better than sex,” another fan, signed Sanja Maric, wrote in reference to the day’s hero - Serbia’s keeper Vladimir Stojkovic, who stopped a penalty shot by Lukas Podolski in the 60th minute.

“Serbia’s historic win over Germany,” one Belgrade media outlet reported. “Serbia’s great victory,” said another.

“Even though the Germans threatened the Serbian goal, the Serbs held their ground and created a series of chances with the trio Krasic-Zigic-Jovanovic,” B92 television reported.

The match changed the sceptical mindset of the majority of the public, which had criticized the squad’s performance in their opener against Ghana. In the space of only an hour-and-a-half, hopes went sky-high and talks of the world title began.

“Now that we’ve defeated the Germans, we can defeat anyone. The Ghana fiasco was just a slip. Now we’ve shown them what we can do,” one excited man told local media.

Serbia’s chances of getting into the next phase of the competition are now a bit better but will still depend on their next match, against Australia June 23, as well as the results of the other teams in the Group D.