Yugoslavia win Millennium Cup

Formidable Yugoslavia relied on their experience to script a fluent 2-0 victory over arch rivals Bosnia and lift the Sahara Cup at the Salt Lake stadium in Calcutta on Thursday.

Defender Igor Duljaj and striker Igor Bogdanovic scored the goals in the opening session to seal the fate of the spirited Bosnians, in a fast-paced summit showdown which seldom rose to great heights.

Bosnia, formerly a part of Yugoslavia, had themselves to blame for the defeat as both the goals came due to defensive lapses while their forwards were guilty of frittering many opportunities to score.

The Yugoslavs, ranked ninth in the FIFA list, fired the first salvo as early as the seventh minute, with Igor Duljaj finding the target, after taking advantage of a defensive lapse.

The goal was the result of a fast counter attack which saw striker Igor Bogdanovic dribble past a defender with deft footwork and send a through pass towards Duljaj, who found the net with a crisp volley from inside the box, with none of the defenders in position.

The early goal served as a tonic for the Yugoslavs, who pierced the Bosnian defence time and again with some well-orchestrated moves but often failed to get their act together inside the box.

The Yugoslavs, playing a cohesive game, tightened their grip on the match just at the stroke of interval with striker Igor Bogdanovic stealing the limelight with a solo effort much to the delight of his teammates.

Collecting a gentle pass from defender Ivan Ilic, Bogdanovic broke through the defence with a sudden burst of speed and fired in a blistering left footer from inside the box, giving no chance at all to Bosnian custodian Guso Adnan, who charged out to narrow the angle.

The Bosnians paid a heavy price for the defensive lapses as they seemed very tentative in the face of the sustained Yugoslav onslaught.

Trailing by 0-2 margin at the interval, the Bosnians made a valiant effort to reduce the margin after the lemon break but could not make forays into their arch rival's defence.

The Bosnians, who were quite impressive during their solitary goal win against tournament favourites Chile in the first semi-final, looked a trifle off-colour today as most of their moves fell through before posing much of a threat.

Their passing and ball-control was not upto the mark while the forwards tended to latch on to the ball for much too long after penetrating the danger zone.

The Yugoslavs, who had a fair knowledge of the Bosnian style of play, did not allow them much room for manouvering inside the box while the midfielders kept falling back to assist the defenders to ease the pressure.

The Yugoslavs turned on the heat on their arch rivals from the word go with a flurry of raids from both the flanks to unsettle them and the strategy seemed to pay dividends as they managed to forge ahead early in the contest.

The winners could have won by a bigger margin had their forwards not squandered a couple of gilt-edged opportunities that came their way, particularly in the fast-paced opening session.