Vidic: Serbia confidence still intact

Nemanja Vidic is looking forward to proving Serbia’s unexpected friendly defeat to New Zealand was a mere blip when they tackle Poland in Kufstein tomorrow night.

Serbia’s preparations for the World Cup finals suffered a setback with their 1-0 loss to the All Whites in Klagenfurt on Saturday.

The defeat prompted angry scenes amongst the Serbian fans who had made the trip to Austria for the match, with Vidic having to ask them to calm down over the stadium’s tannoy.

In the wake of the loss the Manchester United defender has maintained his appeasing role, claiming the defeat could actually help the players, with two more warm-up games to come against the Poles tomorrow and then Cameroon on Saturday.

“Sometimes a defeat in the friendly matches can be more useful for the team than a routine victory,” Vidic said.

“Our confidence is not shaken – on the contrary. Nothing in our plans has changed.

“There were some individual errors, starting from myself, but these games are to remove those errors.

“We have worked hard to qualify for the World Cup and believe the next two friendly matches will be better games.

“It remains our goal to reach the second round in South Africa.”

Serbia’s first game of the World Cup finals is against Ghana on June 13 before matches against Germany and Australia in Group D.