MUNICH, June 22: Seen by many experts and fans at home as one of the potential World Cup surprises, Serbia & Montenegro were sent crashing out of Group C after three matches they would rather forget.

The 1-0 opening defeat to Netherlands was followed by a 6-0 demolition by Argentina and finally a 3-2 loss against Ivory Coast on Wednesday after the Serbs squandered an early 2-0 lead and had Albert Nadj sent off.

Even worse, they lost left back Mladen Krstajic who broke his right arm in the first half after a collision and joined a long list of casualties that reduced the squad to 14 fit players.

After Nikola Zigic and Sasa Ilic fired the Serbs ahead in the opening 20 minutes, it looked like coach Ilija Petkovic may finally have had something to cheer about in his last game in charge.

“After this defeat, I see more clearly than ever all the mistakes I have made in the tournament but I am still proud of what we have achieved,” Petkovic said.

“I now realise we have done extremely well to qualify for the finals because the quality of football here has been absolutely terrific. There are no more pushovers and even the so-called small teams are hard to beat.”

Captain Savo Milosevic, who made his final appearance after coming on as a second half substitute, said the defeat to Ivory Coast meant an end of an era as Serbia and Montenegro now will go their separate political and footballing ways.

“It is too early to say what might happen in the future but this is the end of a three-year cycle and unfortunately, we have not provided a fitting ending to what we have accomplished over the past three years,” he said.

“I think our soccer has a bright future because we have plenty of natural talent and no one can take that away from us.”

Following the political split in May, Serbia will start the Euro 2008 qualifiers on their own while Montenegro is yet to gain international soccer recognition.

Milosevic, who scored 35 goals in 101 matches for his country, said he was reasonably happy with his 12-year long international career.

“Perhaps I could have done better but life has taught me to have no regrets over what might have been. When I look back, I can hold my head up high and say I have given my all for the national team.”—Reuters