Since the beginning of the U-20 World Cup, many could see that Group D was going to be tight. Nobody, however, could have predicted that by the end of the second round of matches, each team would have lost a match and won a match. Mexico entered their final match against Serbia at the bottom of their group with a goal differential of -1, the worst of the group. Their rivals for the night were Serbia, who were at the top of the group with a goal differential of +1. It was do or die for each of these teams and neither wanted to go home early.
Serbia began the match with the same tactic that Uruguay used against the Mexicans. A high defensive line and high pressure saw Serbia take control of the first fifteen matches on.
The match began to get interesting early on. It was only 2 minutes into the match that Serbia opened up the scoreboard. Serbia made the best of a throw in that was headed back by Sergej Milinkovic-Savic at the edge of the six yard box near the touchline. The back headed pass found number Nemanja Maksimovic who was entering the box behind goalkeeper Jose Gonzalez without a defensive mark. Maksimovic simply tapped the ball in for the first goal of the night.
In the 18th minute Mexico was finally able to begin attacking and after a series of rebounds inside Serbia’s 18 yard box a failed clearance by Serbian defender found Mexico’s number eight, Orbelin Pineda. Pineda ripped a powerful shot to the bottom right side of the goal that Serbian goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic was able to dive for and keep out of goal.
Mexico finally began to gain traction and proceeded to dominate possession of the ball and push Serbia into their own half. Serbia also took the same approach as Uruguay and began playing aggressively and with more and more tactical fouls. Serbia was able to continue to play with a solid defensive line and deny Mexico any real opportunities. Serbia took advantage of Mexico’s frustration and used that to their advantage in the final 10 minutes of the match.
In the 42nd minute an unnecessary foul by Mexico led to a free kick in favor of the Serbian side. Andrija Zivkovic converted this opportunity into a goal with a beautifully placed free kick that curled into the top left corner of the goal.
That was the final piece of action in the first half and the teams hit the locker rooms with Serbia leading the match two to nothing.
The second half began with two tactical substitutions on behalf of the Mexican side.
In the 49th minute Erick Gutierrez took a well placed shot from outside the Serbian eighteen-yard box and Rajkovic met the ball with a spectacular one handed save.
Ultimately, the early lead gave Serbia the exact tactical advantage that they needed. It allowed them to play defensively and sit in their half awaiting Mexico’s mistakes. This tactic payed off and allowed the Europeans to double their lead just before the half. Anytime a Mexican player pushed forward, he was met by multiple markers making it nearly impossible for any chance on goal. Tactically, the Serbs dominated the match and were able to use their stature advantage to retain their lead. A wonderful performance by goalkeeper Rajkovic was just icing on the cake for the Serbian victory. It was enough to mathematically eliminate Mexico from the tournament, one of the worst youth tournaments for “El Tri” in recent years.
