Kolarov curling freekick gives Serbia victory

A SPECTACULAR Aleksandar Kolarov freekick gave Serbia a 1-0 win over Costa Rica in World Cup Group E yesterday.

Costa Rica keeper Keylor Navas was his team’s outstanding performer, keeping Serbia at bay but he could do nothing to stop Kolarov’s shot from 25 metres on 56 minutes.

Their winning margin could have been greater but for Aleksandar Mitrovic’s poor finishing. He was put through with four minutes left but stumbled over the ball and Navas gathered comfortably.

The victory delivered a potentially vital three points for Serbia and left Costa Rica in a precarious position.

“Maybe we have lost a certain margin for qualifying,” said Costa Rica coach Oscar Ramirez.

“It’s going to be difficult, but our intention remains the same. I told the lads in the changing room ‘This isn’t over’.”

If Costa Rica are going to recover, however, they will need to rediscover the defensive organisation and clinical counter-attacks that propelled them to the quarterfinals four years ago. While a number of their players remain the same from Brazil, they lacked the energy of that side.

Costa Rica had started brightly and Giancarlo Gonzalez should have put them ahead on 11 minutes but he got under his header from the edge of the six-yard box and sent the ball over.

Mitrovic then went close at the other end for Serbia with a deflected shot that Navas saved.

Branislav Ivanovic, setting a new record of 104 games played for his country, got away down the right but saw his cross pushed away by Navas.

The Costa Rica keeper came into his own again on 26 minutes when Kolarov launched a long ball into the area and Sergej MilinkovicSavic took the ball nicely into his stride. He hit his shot well but Navas saved.

The 23-year-old Lazio midfielder was impressing and he forced another fine save from Navas with an overhead volley. The flag had been raised in error because Milinkovic-Savic was onside.

Five minutes into the second half Serbia should have scored again but once more Navas reacted well to get down to his left and push Mitrovic’s shot away for a corner.

Navas was finally beaten on 56 minutes when Kolarov stepped up to take a freekick. He got the ball up and over the wall, beyond Navas’ dive, and in off the inside of the left post.

The spectacular shot was the third freekick goal of these finals after Aleksandr Golovin for Russia and Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal.

There was a bad-tempered end to the game with Aleksandar Prijovic lashing out at Johnny Acosta.

Costa Rica coach Oscar Ramirez said: “Their goal changed everything. The first game is always difficult, we are not going to lose our minds over the defeat.”

There were no exuberant celebrations, however, with Kolarov sounding a word of caution.

“It is great to have three points in the bag, but we are not finished… I don’t want to do the maths yet,” he said. – dpa