Busy Yugoslavs rule five out of next match

Yugoslavia coach Vujadin Boskov has been forced to pull five of his most experienced players from his plans for the Euro 2000 tie in Dublin against the Irish Republic next week.

Goalkeeper Ivica Kralj confirmed yesterday that he was still suffering from a knee injury while Zoran Mirkovic and Slavisa Jokanovic are banned after two yellow cards in previous games. Jovan Stankovic and Goran Djorovic are also injured.

The ne coach guided Yugoslavia to a reasonably comfortable draw against Croatia last week but have seen the Croats take their place at the top of Group Eight with an unimpressive 2-1 win six days ago against Malta.

The Irish Republic have a good home record and are the main threat in a close group to Yugoslavian progress. The Yugoslavs will need to avoid defeat to emerge as the likely group winners in October and automatic qualifiers for the finals next summer in Holland and Belgium.

Boskov will see Dejan Savicevic and Dragan Stojkovic return to his squad after injury and the refusal of Stojkovic's club to release him for the Croatia game.

Yugoslavia have a busy schedule now that Group Eight is up and running again following the Kosovan conflict. After next week's game they play Macedonia on September 5th and then face the same team in Skopje three days later.

The squad in full -

Goalkeepers - Kocic, Damjanac and Zilic.

Defenders - Komljenovic Saveljic Bolic Krstajic Djukic and Mihajlovic.

Midfielders - Stojkovic, Tomic, Nadj, Drulovic, Grozdic, Stankovic and Govedarica.

Strikers - Savicevic, Milosevic, Mijatovic and Kovacevic.