Goals from Veseljko Trivunovic and Zoran Tosic gave Serbia a 2-0 win over Israel in an international friendly on Wednesday.
CSKA Moscow midfielder Tosic capitalized on poor Israeli defending to volley home from close range 23 minutes into the match at Bloomfield Stadium.
INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES
Tue., Feb. 8
Ivory Coast 1-0- Mali | Recap Ireland 3-0 Wales | Recap Ghana 4-1 Togo | Recap
Wed., Feb. 9
Denmark 1-2 England | Recap
Germany 1-1 Italy | Recap France 1-0 Brazil | Recap
Portugal 1-2 Argentina | Recap Spain 1-0 Colombia | Recap Croatia 4-2 Czech Rep. | Recap Netherlands 3-1 Austria | Recap Greece 1-0 Canada | Recap
Russia 0-1 Iran | Recap
Israel 0-2 Serbia | Recap
Turkey 0-0 S. Korea | Recap
Belgium 1-1 Finland | Recap Scotland 3-0 N. Ireland | Recap
Egypt vs. USA | Canceled Mexico 2-0 Bosnia-Herz. | Recap
Trivunovic completed the victory with a superb long range effort in the 77th.
The visitors were in control for the vast majority of the encounter, especially in the first half when Dragan Mrda came close to scoring after just seven minutes.
Serbia had a number of chances to go ahead early, and only Israel goalkeeper Dudu Aouate's good reflexes kept the game at 0-0.
But when Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic broke down the right and crossed for former Manchester United player Tosic to score easily, Serbia had a fully deserved lead.
The hosts came out fighting after the halftime break, and Elyaniv Barda came close to equalizing after picking up a pass from substitute Gili Vermut only to see his shot fly wide.
But the visitors soaked up the pressure and the second goal capped a solid win for Serbia.
Israel is preparing for two home games against Latvia and Georgia next month as part of qualifying for the 2012 European Championships.
Serbia will hope to get its Euro 2012 qualifying campaign back on track when it hosts Northern Ireland on March 25 before traveling to Estonia four days later. Lineups:
Israel: Dudu Aouate, Danny Bonder, Tal Ben Haim (Dedi Ben Dayan, 46), Itzik Cohen, Rami Gershon, Biram Kiyal (Nir Biton, 55), Bibras Natcho (Almog Cohen, 46), Eran Zahavi, Elroi Cohen (Gili Vermut, 46), Eyal Golasa (Maor Buzaglo, 56), Elyaniv Barda (Ben Sahar, 56).
Serbia: Bojan Jorgacevic, Branislav Ivanovic (Nenad Tomovic, 64), Milan Bicevac, Neven Subotic, Aleksandar Kolarov (Ivan Obradovic, 77), Radosav Petrovic (Dimitrije Injac, 46), Nenad Milijac (Veseljko Trivunovic, 46), Zoran Tosic, Adem Ljajic, Miloc Krasic (Zdravko Kuzmanovic, 46), Dragan Mrda (Marko Pantelic, 64).
Nikola Kalinic scored twice Wednesday to help Croatia beat the Czech Republic 4-2 in a hard-fought international friendly.
INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES
Tue., Feb. 8
Ivory Coast 1-0- Mali | Recap Ireland 3-0 Wales | Recap Ghana 4-1 Togo | Recap
Wed., Feb. 9
Denmark 1-2 England | Recap
Germany 1-1 Italy | Recap France 1-0 Brazil | Recap
Portugal 1-2 Argentina | Recap Spain 1-0 Colombia | Recap Croatia 4-2 Czech Rep. | Recap Netherlands 3-1 Austria | Recap Greece 1-0 Canada | Recap
Russia 0-1 Iran | Recap
Israel 0-2 Serbia | Recap
Turkey 0-0 S. Korea | Recap
Belgium 1-1 Finland | Recap Scotland 3-0 N. Ireland | Recap
Egypt vs. USA | Canceled Mexico 2-0 Bosnia-Herz. | Recap
Croatia took the lead in the 10th minute with a close-range shot by Eduardo after a perfect pass by Niko Kranjcar. Kalinic headed in to make it 2-0 in the 13th after a cross by captain Dario Srna.
Despite being 2-0 down after only 13 minutes, the Czechs managed to come back in the game played at a new 9,000-seat stadium in the Adriatic Sea port.
The Czechs were dominant in the air, and defender Tomas Sivak pulled one back in the 20th with a header after a corner kick by Jaroslav Plasil. Tomas Rosicky leveled the scores in added time in the first half, with his 20th goal in 78 appearances for the Czech national team.
Croatia coach Slaven Bilic sent on four substitutes at the start of the second half, and one of them, Tomislav Dujmovic, delivered a perfect pass to Blackburn's Kalinic who ran some 20 yards (meters) before beating beat Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech with a fierce shot under the bar for 3-2 in the 61st.
Substitute Ivo Ilicevic completed the scoring in the 74th from some 40 yards when Cech ventured far from his goal, tried to dribble, and left the net unattended.
"Scoring four goals against such a strong team has to be considered a perfect day," Bilic said.
Croatia played without key midfielder Luka Modric of Tottenham after appendix surgery, while the Czechs were missing injured striker Milan Baros of Galatasaray.
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