Serbia will cope with psychological pressure - Coach Antic

(Culled from FIFA Official website) Accra, June 12, GNA - Serbia Coach Radomir Antic is confident his team will be able to cope with the "huge psychological pressure" they are set to encounter as they begin their FIFA World Cup campaign against Ghana in Pretoria on Sunday.

Playing in their first finals as an independent nation, Serbia will be determined to get off to a good start against Ghana, with matches against Germany and Australia to come in Group D. But, with it being their opening appearance of the tournament, Antic admits there will be additional press ure on the players.

"The beginning of the World Cup is when we think about many things - - we fight against Ghana but also ourselves," he said. "We have great ambitions and the first game is a game with huge psychological pressure, as always."

However, Antic believes that the club successes that some of his play ers have enjoyed over the last few years will stand them in good stead. The likes of Inter Milan's Dejan Stankovic, Nemanja Vidic of Manchester United, Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic and Standard Liege forward Milan Jovanovic have all enjoyed trophy-winning campaigns in recent years.

"We are a team comprised of champions, players who know how to play under great pressure," said the vastly experienced Antic, who replaced Miroslav Djukic as Head Coach barely two weeks before Serbia's opening qualifier back in 2008.

Antic has a fully-fit squad at his disposal, with the players all eagerly wanting the action to begin. "What our team wants is for the World Cup to finally start and I can tell you that all the guys on the list are more than well prepared," the former Real Madrid and Barcelona Coach said .. "They have no physical difficulties and we have a squad of 23 players I can count on. Of course, our opponents are a very good team -- four times

winners of the African Nations Cup and winners of the FIFA Under-20 World

Cup (2009). Ghana also reached the final of the African Nations Cup this year, but I believe in my players. I have faith in them. "I'm also very content with the conditions in which this game will t ake place. The pitch is very good, conditions are very good and I'm sure that it will be a true and good game."

While Antic has a full complement to choose from for tomorrow's encounter at the Loftus Versfeld stadium, Ghana must do without their sta r player Michael Essien for the whole tournament. The 27-year-old Chelsea midfielder missed a large part of last season due to knee and ankle injur ies and had hardly played any competitive football since December before fina lly being ruled out of the FIFA World Cup last month.

Antic believes Essien's absence is a blow for Ghana but thinks the African side, who are coached by his friend and fellow Serbian Milovan Rajevac, will be a difficult opponent nonetheless. "It's true he (Essien) is a very good player but it's also true he hasn't been playing for the last six months," said Antic.

"He's a player who not only has good footballing abilities but he is also a good leader. The fact he's not going to play means Ghana have had a new problem but I think they've overcome this problem during the warm-up games. "As I said before, Ghana have won four African Nations Cups, the FIFA

Under-20 World Cup...this is a squad that is in very good shape and this is a team which knows how to attack their opponents when one-on-one. This is a team that is very confident and I'm sure tomorrow we will face a very str ong rival." When asked if he would settle for a draw from the match, with both o f the opening two games of the tournament finishing deadlocked yesterday, Antic added: "I don't know. Before the game I will say I wouldn't, but ea ch game has its pros and cons and the important thing is not only to participate but to win." 12 June 10

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