Soccer: 10 things you may, or may not know, about Serbian soccer

ONE
Serbia are ranked 15 in the world. They are drawn in a fairly tough World Cup group, including Germany, Ghana and Australia, but are warmly favoured to make it through with the Germans. Serbia won their qualification group, ahead of France, but remain World Cup outsiders at between 50-1 and 70-1.

TWO
Manchester United central defender Nemanja Vidic is their best known player. He holds a strange record, having been sent off in three consecutive matches against Liverpool, largely because Reds striker Fernando Torres has a hold over the Serb. Their battles are legendary - a riveting clash between men regarded as being among the very best in their positions. The powerful Vidic is the star turn in an impressive group of Serbian defenders.

THREE
Doubts have been raised about the quality of the Serbian goalkeepers - they are said to be in patchy form. Manager Radomir Antic has named four goalkeepers, with one to be cut from a 24-man squad.

FOUR
Serbia's leading striker, Nikola Zigic at 2.02 metres tall, is hard to miss. He has scored 16 goals in 42 games. Serbian coach Antic rates him a potential star in the World Cup. Zigic is a hair's width taller than England's beanpole striker Peter Crouch (2.01m).

FIVE
Manager Antic, a defender in his playing days, is a vastly experienced club coach who should be a real strength for Serbia at the World Cup. He is the only person to have managed Spanish giants Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. The 61-year-old's international career was limited to a 10-minute appearance for Yugoslavia. He played in England for Luton. After a four-year absence from coaching, he was appointed Serbia's coach in 2008 after the team's poor performances under Miroslav Duki.

SIX
Antic's mission did not start and end with turning around the national team. From the outset, he made it clear that corruption and crowd violence which marred the game in his country had to be eliminated. He is said to have built a strong spirit within his squad.

SEVEN
A complicated history, but Serbia has been a member of Fifa for nearly 90 years. The Serbian team officially came into being following the 2006 World Cup, having first emerged after the break up of Yugoslavia as Serbia and Montenegro. That team, which did not actually include any player from Montenegro, lost their group matches to Holland, Ivory Coast and Argentina during the tournament in Germany.

The former Yugoslavia made the World Cup finals eight times, and the semifinals twice.

EIGHT
Serbia are known as the White Eagles - a double headed eagle is on the national coat of arms.

NINE
Serbia are captained by the 31-year-old Dejan Stankovic from Inter Milan, who can fill all the midfield roles and scores from distance. He has 13 goals in 86 games.

TEN
Serbia may play a prominent role in our World Cup watching. They are in Australia's group and the prediction is they will meet England - who will be followed closely here - in the first knockout round. England would regard this match nervously.