Serbia beat Belgium to reach final
Serbia will face a sea of Orange in Saturday's final
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Wednesday, 20, Jun 2007 11:00
Serbia have beaten Belgium 2-0 in their European under-21 championship semi-final and will now face hosts Holland in the showpiece on Saturday.
Goals at either end of the game handed the Serbs victory thanks to strikes from Aleksandar Kolarov and Dragan Mrdja.
The game started at a furious pace and Belgium created the first opportunity after just two minutes but Marouane Fellaini could only manage to fire over the crossbar from close range.
Two minutes later they were left to rue that miss as Kolarov put the Serbs ahead. The midfielder's lofted free-kick from wide on the right deceived goalkeeper Logan Bailey and drifted in at the far-post.
Midway through the half Dejan Milovanovic thought he had scored a second, only for the linesman to rule him offside.
In the second half the Belgians gained more possession and were able to craft some chances for themselves. Jonathan Blondel fired a shot from distance but failed to trouble the goalkeeper.
Fellaini then had two more chances but he could not convert them. Serbia goalkeeper Damir Kahriman came out quickly to deny him the first opportunity and the striker headed the second chance wide.
Branislav Ivanovic nearly doubled Serbia's lead after 73 minutes taking on a number of defenders on a solo run but his final shot was straight at Bailey.
Substitute Mrdja made the game safe in the 87th minute when he latched on to Bosko Jankovic's flick and slotted the ball into the net.