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Competition for honor. This is the last match of these two teams in these World Championships. Neither team has won yet, but no one wants to leave empty-handed. Both teams will surely have their motivation - for the Serbians, who humiliated the Argentinians 6-0 in the previous round, they need to bounce back. Meanwhile, Ivory Coast, one of the strongest "African" teams, has entered one of the toughest groups and lost both games narrowly. So they need to prove themselves too. Both teams - Ivory Coast, Serbia and Montenegro (as a separate state) are making their debut in the World Championships, so neither team will want to leave without points. Ivory Coast - Serbia and Montenegro Time: 22:00 (Lithuanian time) Location: Munich Referee: Marco Rodriguez (Mexico) Predictions These are meaningless matches - after these matches, both teams pack their bags and go home. Or maybe they will stay in Germany as tourists. It's just an honor match. The winning team will rise to third place, while in case of a tie, the Africans remain in third. Lineups French national team coach Henri Michel will have to do without almost all his key players in this match, except striker Didier Drogba, who received a second yellow card against the Netherlands and will miss this match as a spectator. The Serbians will also have to miss their strikers due to disqualifications - Mateja Kezman received a red card in the match against the Argentinians, while Ognjen Koroman will miss the match due to yellow cards. It is also unclear whether Ivica Dragutinovic, Dusan Basta, Albert Nadj, and Daniel Ljuboja, who have various injuries, will play. Head-to-head meetings This will be the first meeting between these two teams. Second Match Netherlands 2 - 1 Ivory Coast Second consecutive defeat in this championship with the same result for the Africans. And even though they attacked aggressively in both matches, they couldn't achieve a positive result. "Everyone tells me that this team plays great football," said the coach who will resign after this championship. "But the result is even more important. We are going home. This is the worst scenario. It means that Ivory Coast has not reached the level that the top teams have reached," said H.Michelis after the defeat. However, the coach says that his team is practically equal to the others. "The only thing we lack is experience. We thought we could go to the next stage, but we failed. We are disappointed." Argentina 6 - 0 Serbia and Montenegro This can only be called humiliation. Before this championship, the team was known for its excellent defense, but during the championship, this advantage was lost. First of all, the middle defense weakened significantly when Nemanja Vidic was removed from the lineup. In the match against the Argentinians, the Serbians could not resist at all, and to make matters worse, the match ended with ten men as Mateja Kezman was sent off the field. After the match, team captain Savo Milosevic called the South Americans one of the strongest teams in the championships. "We lost to one of the best, if not the best team. They have good players, and as a team, they look great. We have many inexperienced players, and a few, very important to us, were injured. We couldn't find a way to organize our defense, which was one of our strengths," said S.Milosevic, for whom this was his 100th match for the national team. "The first goal was crucial. If you concede a goal in the first few minutes against a team like Argentina, it is very difficult to win later. But we still have one game left. It is important to win them." This idea is also supported by the head coach of the team, Ilja Petkovic, who is resigning from his position after this championship: "We need to regain our honor. We need to get rid of the humiliation we experienced." Pre-match thoughts Ivory Coast H.Michelis: "We will do everything to finish this tournament with a victory. But I will give a chance to those players who did not play or played little. Then they can all say that they went to the World Cup and played there. The (editor's note - the Serbians) team has a bad psychological atmosphere. It is reflected on the field," said the Frenchman. "It's hard to say how they will approach the last match and how they will look at it. Perhaps they will play just for the honor." Serbia and Montenegro "We need to regain our honor. We need to get rid of the humiliation we experienced," said I.Petkovic. S.Milosevic: "It is difficult to find motivation for this match. We are trying to concentrate, but our morale and confidence are crumbling." After the match against Argentina, reports appeared in the press that the country's football federation threatened not to pay the promised bonuses to the players if they fail to concentrate and "finish the championship honorably." Predicted lineups Ivory Coast: Tizie, Eboue, K Toure, Boka, Meite, Zokora, G Toure, Akale, Romaric, A Kone, B Kone. Serbia and Montenegro: Jevric, Basta, Gavrancic, Krstajic, Dragutinovic, Ergic, Duljaj, Stankovic, Vukic, Zigic, Ljuboja.
