Beating Serbia, New Zealand’s biggest football victory: Coach
June 1st, 2010 - 2:16 pm ICT by IANS
Wellington, June 1 (DPA) New Zealand football coach Ricki Herbert hailed his side’s 1-0 win over Serbia in a friendly in Klagenfurt as the national team’s best-ever win.
Serbia is the world’s 15th top side according to the FIFA rankings. New Zealand, which will be at the World Cup finals in South Africa for only the second time, is ranked at 78.
“It’s a fantastic result,” Herbert told Radio New Zealand. “It’s the best we’ve ever had in the history of the game - to beat a team at that level.”
The Serbian side included a number of players in the top ranks of European football, including members of Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Ajax clubs.
The result was seen as a big confidence boost for the New Zealanders and Herbert said it would send shockwaves around the footballing world as the finalists prepare for South Africa.
Serbian fans became angry at their side’s performance and captain Nemanja Vidic had to appeal for calm over the stadium microphone as they threw burning flares and bottles on to the pitch in the second half, Radio New Zealand reported.
Several invaded the pitch and were dragged away by security officers, before Vidic made his appeal as the New Zealanders were getting ready to walk off.
- New Zealand victory over Serbia greatest ever, says coach - May 30, 2010
- Serbs will be a confident bunch in South Africa (Group D team profile) - May 29, 2010
- Ghana's Serbian coach Rajevac swaps loyalty - Jun 12, 2010
- Serbia upset 10-man Germany (Lead) - Jun 18, 2010
- Vidic wants to bury Torres hoodoo - Feb 28, 2011
- Serbs wonder - finally a real team? (Team Profile) - Nov 26, 2009
- World Cup ball is kicked about with epithets - May 31, 2010
- Moment of truth for Germany and Serbia - Jun 17, 2010
- New Zealand-Chile to play pre-World Cup friendly - Mar 23, 2010
- Underdogs Kiwis hope to create few upsets - May 31, 2010
- Real Madrid crush Ajax in Champions League - Sep 28, 2011
- Australia beat Serbia, both go out of World Cup (Lead) - Jun 24, 2010
- Bagging 'low priced' Vidic best piece of business I've done in 24 years: Ferguson - Jan 22, 2011
- Kiwis want to start with a bang against Slovakia - Jun 14, 2010
- Djokovic, Cheruiyot, Barcelona win Laureus Awards - Feb 07, 2012
Tags: ajax, chelsea, dpa, fifa rankings, flares, football coach, football victory, klagenfurt, liverpool, manchester united, microphone, nemanja vidic, new zealanders, pitch, radio new zealand, second time, security officers, serbian side, wellington, world cup finals