Smeltz strike shocks Serbia

A first-half strike from Shane Smeltz handed World Cup outsiders New Zealand a shock 1-0 victory over Serbia in a pre-tournament friendly here on Saturday.

Smeltz, an A-League striker with Gold Coast United, found the net for the All Whites after 21 minutes against a Serbian side who rarely threatened despite being ranked 63 places above their rivals.

The Serbs were sorely missing captain and Inter Milan striker Dejan Stankovic and defender Ivan Obradovic.

After the shock of falling behind, defender Neven Subotic missed Serbia’s best chance of an equaliser after 38 minutes when he failed to finish off a header just two metres out from Mark Patson in the Kiwi goal.

Captain Nemanja Vidic and his teammates had to call for calm as Serbia’s fans expressed their frustration by throwing objects onto the pitch with some even making it down onto the grounds.

Serbia are drawn in Group D in South Africa against Germany, Ghana and Australia. They play Poland in a friendly on June 2 in Kufstein, Austria.

New Zealand are in Group F with Italy, Paraguay and Slovakia and play another friendly against Slovenia on June 4 in Maribor.