The absence of the suspended Harry Kewell and Craig Moore will deprive Australia of quality and experience in its must-win Group D match against Serbia at the World Cup, Serb captain Dejan Stankovic said Monday.
Kewell was sent off and Moore picked up his second yellow card of the tournament in Australia's 1-1 draw with Ghana on Saturday. Both will be missing when Serbia plays Australia on Wednesday at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.
``They still have good players in the reserves, but these two are big players for them,'' Stankovic said Monday. ``We will try to use that to our advantage.''
The Serbs upset Germany 1-0 at Nelson Mandela Bay stadium on Friday to throw the group wide open after having lost to Ghana in their opener. Ghana leads the group with four points, one ahead of Germany and Serbia. Australia has one point.
Stankovic, however, said the Australians will still be difficult to overcome.
``They are a very competitive, honest football team,'' the Inter Milan midfielder said. ``They are fighters and they showed that by holding Ghana with 10 men. We expect them to come out fighting. They have a good collectiveness. We respect their quality, but we will do our best to beat them.''
The 31-year-old Stankovic doesn't want to waste this chance as he doesn't expect to be playing at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
``I will probably not play in a World Cup again after this, so I would really like to make this tournament memorable,'' he said. ``We have a realistic chance of qualifying for the second round. Our goal is to beat Australia on Wednesday and qualify.
