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Serbia's Aleksandar Kolarov celebrates scoring their first goal with Nemanja Matic and Adem Ljajic - REUTERS
SAMARA, Russia (Reuters) - Aleksandar Kolarov produced a moment of captain’s inspiration, curling home a superb free kick as Serbia got their World Cup Group E campaign up and running with a 1-0 victory over Costa Rica on Sunday.
With the Central Americans proving a tough nut to crack, Kolarov stepped up to bury a 25-metre effort from wide on the right, lighting up an otherwise tight game in the southern Russian city of Samara.
Serbia had dominated against a Costa Rica side who rarely threatened after a bright start, but chances were thin on the ground until Kolarov made the breakthrough in the 56th minute.
The match began in furious fashion with Serbia’s Aleksandar Mitrovic having a header scooped off the line and Costa Rica’s Giancarlo Gonzalez failed to convert two headed chances.
But it soon settled into a more predictable pattern.
Serbia bossed the ball as their enterprising midfield, fusing the experience of Manchester United enforcer Nemanja Matic and the raw talent of Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, got on top.
The Lazio playmaker was Serbia’s most creative influence, although his blushes were spared by the linesman’s flag when he fluffed a first-half chance after racing through on goal.
That would have been easily forgotten, however, had he converted an outrageous overhead kick moments before the break that forced a brilliant save from Keylor Navas.
The bullish Mitrovic failed to find the net with a good chance early in the second half, but it mattered little, as the deadlock was broken when AS Roma left back Kolarov produced his moment of magic, curling a free kick left-footed over the wall and past the despairing dive of Navas.
There were few chances in the closing stages and although Serbian appeals for a penalty were waved away when Mitrovic went down in the box, their disappointment lasted only until the final whistle.
Moscow (Reuters): Germany were stunned 1-0 by Mexico in the opening game of their World Cup defence on Sunday as Hirving Lozano finished off a sharp counter-attack that exposed the ragged defending that the four-times winners had displayed in their warm-up games.
Germany’s defence had looked stretched to breaking point on several occasions in the opening half-hour, and it was no surprise when Javier Hernandez again left Mats Hummels for dead to play in Lozano, who cut inside Mesut Ozil and smashed the ball low into the corner to release an explosion of noise in Luzhniki Stadium.
Germany came close to levelling late in the half when a Toni Kroos free kick was touched on to the bar by goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, and they gradually took command once Marco Reus joined the fray after an hour and introduced some pace to their attack.
But despite almost constant pressure they were largely kept at long range, and their poor finishing rarely threatened Ochoa as Mexico held out for only their second victory against the Germans in 12 attempts.
