While the prospect of meeting Germany in the last 16 of next year's World Cup has naturally excited the most interest, it is entirely possible that England will line up against Serbia. If so, they would be well advised to close down Nenad Milijas quickly should he have the ball 30 yards from goal. Bolton Wanderers' failure to do so on Saturday cost them a goal and ultimately the game and, if their travelling supporters had anything to do with it, it would also cost their manager, Gary Megson, his job.
Milijas, a 26-year-old midfielder bought by Wolverhampton Wanderers from Red Star Belgrade for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £2.5m, last summer, became a fixture in his national side's midfield during their successful World Cup qualifying campaign, and on this evidence it is not hard to see why.
Energetic and determined though his team-mates are, or at least were in this match, only Milijas and the admirable Kevin Doyle look to have the sort of quality that might actually win matches and keep them up, and the swerving 30-yard drive with which Milijas put his side two clear shortly after the hour was a shaft of bright sunlight in the Molineux gloom.
"He didn't settle straightaway – the Premier League is a bit of a harsh old playground – but today Nenad showed what I expected, what I thought I was buying," said the Wolves manager, Mick McCarthy, after his side's first win in nine league matches lifted them off the bottom of the table after Portsmouth's win earlier.
"He's coped in what was a very physical game, and he didn't when he first came. Red Star are the top team in Serbia, a lot of the teams they played against wouldn't have much chance, and he was one of the big cheeses. Now he's come to Wolverhampton, and it's not like that, we're scrapping for everything, so it's different for him, but he's a fabulous guy, he's one of Serbia's star players, and if he plays like that every week for me, he's inked in the team."
Actually, said Milijas afterwards, he was always ready for the Premier League, and though this was his first in England, he has scored plenty of goals like that. "Many, many – 20, I think. Last year I scored 22 goals. It was an easier division, but I scored many goals like this. I just think about the goal, but there was no pressure on me.
"If we play England, then we will have to get out of our group, and England need to get out of their group – then we will think about it. We have a tough group, but we played very good in qualification, we finished first in the group and I think we deserved that."
Megson was left to bemoan the Wolves opener, scored by Jody Craddock from a clearly offside position, and the fact his side only picked up the tempo after going two behind. As soon as they did Wolves reverted to their customary unsure selves, and with more luck and better finishing Bolton would have had more than Johan Elmander's goal to show for their increased effort. Predictably their fans gave Megson both barrels, but he is used to that.
"When it's going on from day one you probably do become immune to it," Megson said. "People talk about pressure, but there's three million unemployed, we're fighting a war in Afghanistan, so if you look at yourself and life's not going particularly well, it's not a case of pressure."
