Soccer-Clemente feels the heat after Kazakhstan defeat

By Zoran Milosavljevic

BELGRADE, March 25 (Reuters) - Serbia's Spanish coach Javier Clemente has come under heavy criticism after the team's shock 2-1 defeat in Kazakhstan in their Euro 2008 Group E qualifier on Saturday.

"Clemente is a fake," screamed daily Sportski Zurnal on its front page and poured scorn on the 57-year old Basque for leaving experienced defenders Mladen Krstajic and Ivica Dragutinovic on the bench.

The result left Serbia fourth in the eight-team group with 10 points from five matches, level on points with third-placed Portugal before their clash in Belgrade on Wednesday.

Poland top the group with 14 points from six matches, followed by Finland who have 11 from five.

Clemente defended his decision to introduce youngsters Milan Stepanov and Dusko Tosic to the back four, which conceded two soft goals against a side that had never won a European qualifier.

"Leaving out Krstajic and Dragutinovic had no bearing on the outcome, we were very unfortunate not to have come away with something from here," Clemente said after the match.

"We lost the battle in midfield and our strikers also missed too many good chances to get a better result. There are plenty of matches left to make amends for this setback," he said.

Football Association president Zvezdan Terzic was among the few who lent support to Clemente.