Serbia and Montenegro's captain and Osasuna's striker Savo Milocevic admitted that Manchester United's Nemanja Vidic injury before the opening match for the Serbians and Montenegrins was a major setback for Ilija Petkovic's team.

In an interview featured in the official website of the tournament, Milocevic admitted that Nemanja Vidic is an irreplaceable unit in his team but also said that the defenders did a great job.

"It’s a big loss, I can't put a gloss on it. He is a very important part of our defence that was one of the best in qualifying," Milocevic said, referring to Serbia & Montenegro's impressive defensive record, conceiving just one goal in all qualification matches.

"But in the game against Holland, I thought we played well even without Vidic. They scored one goal, but I don’t agree with anyone saying that our defence played badly. We basically made one mistake, but apart from that they really didn’t create too many chances to score," he added.

Savo Milocevic said that he has played against some of the big names in Argentina's squad, like Riquelme, Saviola, Ayala and Aimar, with Ossasuna in the Spanish League, so he is aware of their capabilities. However, he added that these players know his game as well, so he expects the end result to be something in the middle.

The Group C of the World Cup 2006 Finals is branded by many as the toughest of the tournament, featuring Argentina, the Ivory Coast and Holland. Ilija Petkovic, the Serbia and Montenegro head coach, knows very well that anything other than a win will automatically mean an early exit from the tournament.

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