Serbia blanks Israel in friendly

Goals from Veseljko Trivunovic and Zoran Tosic gave Serbia a 2-0 win over Israel in an international friendly on Wednesday.

CSKA Moscow midfielder Tosic capitalized on poor Israeli defending to volley home from close range 23 minutes into the match at Bloomfield Stadium.

Trivunovic completed the victory with a superb long range effort in the 77th.

The visitors were in control for the vast majority of the encounter, especially in the first half when Dragan Mrda came close to scoring after just seven minutes.

Serbia had a number of chances to go ahead early, and only Israel goalkeeper Dudu Aouate's good reflexes kept the game at 0-0.

But when Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic broke down the right and crossed for former Manchester United player Tosic to score easily, Serbia had a fully deserved lead.

The hosts came out fighting after the halftime break, and Elyaniv Barda came close to equalizing after picking up a pass from substitute Gili Vermut only to see his shot fly wide.

But the visitors soaked up the pressure and the second goal capped a solid win for Serbia.

Israel is preparing for two home games against Latvia and Georgia next month as part of qualifying for the 2012 European Championships.

Serbia will hope to get its Euro 2012 qualifying campaign back on track when it hosts Northern Ireland on March 25 before traveling to Estonia four days later.

Lineups:

Israel: Dudu Aouate, Danny Bonder, Tal Ben Haim (Dedi Ben Dayan, 46), Itzik Cohen, Rami Gershon, Biram Kiyal (Nir Biton, 55), Bibras Natcho (Almog Cohen, 46), Eran Zahavi, Elroi Cohen (Gili Vermut, 46), Eyal Golasa (Maor Buzaglo, 56), Elyaniv Barda (Ben Sahar, 56).

Serbia: Bojan Jorgacevic, Branislav Ivanovic (Nenad Tomovic, 64), Milan Bicevac, Neven Subotic, Aleksandar Kolarov (Ivan Obradovic, 77), Radosav Petrovic (Dimitrije Injac, 46), Nenad Milijac (Veseljko Trivunovic, 46), Zoran Tosic, Adem Ljajic, Miloc Krasic (Zdravko Kuzmanovic, 46), Dragan Mrda (Marko Pantelic, 64).