Vladimir Petrovic, your new coach of Serbia

Big doings in Serbian football: Radomir Antic was fired as Serbia's soccer coach on Wednesday and replaced by Vladimir Petrovic.

The former Real Madrid and Barcelona coach had been suspended for four matches by FIFA after insulting a referee at the World Cup, where Serbia was knocked out in the first round despite beating eventual semifinalist Germany.

Without Antic, Serbia won its opening European Championship qualifier against the Faeroe Islands, but tied Slovenia.

Petrovic's first games in charge will be against Estonia and Italy next month in Group C of Euro 2012 qualifying.

Petrovic, a forward for Arsenal and Red Star Belgrade, has been coaching Romanian club FC Timisoara. Petrovic previously coached China's national team, but he was dismissed in 2008 after the Asian nation was eliminated from qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.

Petrovic was hired by Red Star Belgrade in 2009, but was fired after less than a year in charge.

Serbia had one of the biggest upsets so far but it wasn't enough to stick around

If I told you Serbia would beat Germany, you'd probably surmise that meant they'd get out of Group D. Not so much. Though it was one of the best results in the Group stage, Serbia lost their two other matches so the German win ended up being essentially meaningless.

Serbia

Best moment: Beating Germany, one of the tournament favorites in their second match.

Worst moment: Their meltdown in the second half that saw the Australians score a pair of goals in three minutes.

Best result: Getting three points vs. Germany, something nobody outside of Serbia could have dreamed of.

Worst result: Losing to Australia. The loss wasn't so bad since they fought back and scored a goal but the way they fell apart in the second half was the real issue.

Final tally: 1 win, 2 losses. 2 goals scored, 3 goals against.

Best player: Forward Milan Jovanovic, the Standard Liege man scored the game-winner against Germany.

Worst player: The whole defense that collectively crapped their pants in that three minute stretch vs. Australia.

Germany and Ghana move on

The lack of goals in the first half of Germany-Ghana and Serbia-Australia was more than made up with a pair of crazy second halfs, particularly in Serbia-Australia.

When it was all said and done, Germany finished on top of Group D with a 1-0 win over Ghana and Australia beat Serbia 2-1, meaning they were both eliminated and Ghana hangs on for second place in Group D.

This sets up two juicy matchups in the round-of-16: U.S. vs. Ghana on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on ABC and England vs. Germany on Sunday at 10 a.m.

Cahill gets away with handball in box

It was the right move to not call it but Cahill got away with a handball in his own defensive zone during a Serbian scramble following a corner kick.

It clearly hit his hand but he wasn't facing it so it wasn't intentional. It could have been called but for once in this tournament, the referee made a good decision.

Pantelic cuts it to 2-1 Australia

Serbian forward Marko Pantelic (who came on as a substitute), made it 2-1 Australia after Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer dropped the rebound right at his feet.

2-1 Australia in the 87th minute, Serbia needs one more goal to finish second and move on to face the U.S.

Germany leads 1-0 in the 88th minute.

Australian forward Tim Kennedy just had a great chance but he pushed it wide.

Wilkshire out with groin injury, Garcia in

Australia is going for it all here, subbing out an injured Wilkshire for Richard Garcia, a midfielder.

2-0 Australia in the 83th minute.

1-0 Germany in the 83rd minute.

Holman gets Socceroos one step closer to ridiculous comeback

At halftime, Australia needed a win and a four-goal swing to advance to the knockout stage. That seemed impossible but they're halfway there thanks to a 30-yard rope from midfielder Brett Holman, who scored his second international goal.

Australia needs one more goal and one from the Germans to leapfrog Ghana. Serbia is clearly stunned and on the ropes.

2-0 Australia in the 78th minute and 1-0 Germany in the 77th minute.

Crazy stuff in Group D!

Cahill punches in

Did you really think Tim Cahill, Australia's best player and Everton stud, would exit the 2010 World Cup without any highlights?

He just headed one home in the 69th minute.

Ozil gives Germans 1-0 lead

Finally a goal as German forward Mesut Ozil hits a screamer off a volley from outside the box. His left-footed shot was a thing of beauty, 1-0 Germany in the 60th minute.

Ghana almost tied it off the kick-off, forward Prince Tagoe's header was deflected out by a German defender.

Now Germany would win Group D (and play England) while Ghana hangs on to second place. If Serbia scores a goal, they'll move ahead of Ghana.

0-0 Australia-Serbia in the 65th minute.

Midfielder Sulley Mantari came on for Tagoe. Serbian midfielder Zoran Tosic came on for Krasic.

Ghana corner kick after a pretty back heel pass and shot deflected out.

2 yellow cards for Australia in 2 minutes

In the 49th minute, Australian defender Michael Beauchamp received a yellow and in the next minute, his teammate and defensive partner Luke Wilkshire also picked up a yellow card for his troubles.

0-0 Germany-Ghana in the 58th minute.

0-0 Australia-Serbia in the 55th minute.

Second half is underway

Still no score in either game. Germany-Ghana is in the 55th minute and Serbia-Australia is in the 55th minute.

If these games end like this, the U.S. would get Germany (gulp) and England would play Ghana.

Halftime and nobody has scored yet

Both games went into halftime, knotted at 0-0 and you have to believe that will change soon.

Germany and Ghana have had too many chances and it sounds like Serbia is dominating Australia so they're likely to get one at some point.

Halftime stats:

Australia Serbia
4(0) Shots (on Goal) 7(3)
9 Fouls 4
2 Corner Kicks 2
0 Offsides 3
42% Time of Possession 58%
0 Yellow Cards 1
0 Red Cards 0
3 Saves 1

Ghana Germany
9(1) Shots (on Goal) 7(3)
5 Fouls 3
1 Corner Kicks 5
1 Offsides 1
37% Time of Possession 63%
1 Yellow Cards 1
0 Red Cards 0
3 Saves 1

Ayew booked for tackle that could have gone either way

Ghana midfielder Andre Ayew received a yellow card for a slide tackle from behind on Cacau. It looked like he got mostly ball but since it was from the back (which you'll almost always get called on) and the fact that he went bananas after the stoppage, picking up the ball and walking away, he deserved it. You can't show up a referee like that.

0-0 Ghana and Germany in the 43rd minute.

0-0 Serbia and Australia in the 42nd minute. Serbian midfielder Milos Krasic scored in the 37th minute but it didn't count since he was ruled offside.

Thomas Muller just booked with a yellow card for a challenge that wasn't as bad as the Ghana player made it look.

Great stat for Germany

They've made it out of the first round of the World Cup in 16 of the last 17 tournaments. 1938 was the last time they didn't advance and who could forget that terrible squad?

0-0 Germany-Ghana in the 37th minute. Truthfully, Ghana is having the run of play right now. They are flowing better and getting more chances. This of course can change with one sweet German counterattack.

0-0 Australia-Serbia in the 38th minute.

We want a goal, something before halftime!

Australia and Serbia looking for a goal

The starting 11's for Australia and Serbia:

Australia Lineup
G
1Mark Schwarzer
CD-L
2Lucas Neill
CD-R
6Michael Beauchamp
LB
21David Carney
RB
8Luke Wilkshire
CM-L
5Jason Culina
CM-R
16Carl Valeri
LM
23Mark Bresciano
RM
7Brett Emerton
F
9Joshua Kennedy

Serbia Lineup
G
1Vladimir Stojkovic
CD-L
13Aleksandar Lukovic
CD-R
5Nemanja Vidic
LB
16Ivan Obradovic
RB
6Branislav Ivanovic
CM-L
10Dejan Stankovic
CM-R
22Zdravko Kuzmanovic
AM
18Milos Ninkovic
LM
14Milan Jovanovic
RM
17Milos Krasic
F
15Nikola Zigic

I'm watching the Germany-Ghana game (clearly) but I have the Gamecasts up for both matches so I'll let you know what's going on in this one too.

Serbian defender Aleksander Lukovic picked up a yellow card in the 18th minute.

0-0 Australia-Serbia in the 31st minute.

Who will meet U.S. and England? Live blog

We're about 11 minutes into Germany-Ghana and Serbia-Australia, the last two matches in Group D. The winner of the group gets England on Sunday at 10 a.m. and the runner-up faces the U.S. at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Ghana leads the way with four points while Germany (+3) and Serbia (0) are closeby with three points. The Australians are in fourth place with a point but they could sneak in with a win and German loss.

Ghana wins 1-0

A bit of history as Ghana holds on for the 1-0 win, the first African side to win a World Cup match on this continent.

Ghana stayed much more composed and deserved the win despite the gift penalty kick. Serbia is lucky that Ghana didn't score that second goal or they would have been a mess given their yellow card situation (2 yellows, 1 red) heading into the next two matches.

In later Group D action, Germany meets Australia this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Sebria plays Germany at 7 a.m. on Friday and Ghana meets Australia on Saturday at 9:30 a.m.

Serbia Ghana
14(2) Shots (on Goal) 15(1)
10 Fouls 16
4 Corner Kicks 4
2 Offsides 0
50% Time of Possession 50%
2 Yellow Cards 2
1 Red Cards 0
0 Saves 2

Three minutes of stoppage time

Ghana midfielder Lee Addy in for Kevin Prince-Boeteng.

Gyan just hit the post with a tricky shot and then he's subbed out for Quincy Owusu-Abeyie.

Ghana takes advantage of gift corner

This look destined to be a scoreless draw but Serbian midfielder Zdravko Kuzmanovic had a clear handball on a pretty innocent cross in the box by Ghana.

Ghana midfielder Asamoah Gyan took it and hit the back of the net with a hard shot to the left in the 83rd minute.

Kuzmanovic got a yellow card for his terrible gaffe and Ghana striker Prince Tagoe got a yellow card for playing the ball and shooting after the referee blew the whistle.

1-0 Ghana in the 90th minute.

Kingson saves the day for Ghana

Ghana goalkeeper Richard Kingson saved a shot in the box from Serbia midfielder Milos Krasic. He should have done more with the shot since he was wide open in the box and smashed it right into Kingson's hands (he looked English with the shot).

On the ensuing corner kick Nemanja Vidic got up for a header over a few defenders but put it over.