Serbia and Montenegro striker Mateja Kezman said on Monday he would soon return to World Cup training after an injury that has strained his relations with defender Nemanja Vidic.
The star striker hurt his knee on Saturday and missed Serbia and Montenegro's last warm up match before the World Cup against a selection of players from Austria's Carinthia province on Sunday. The Serbs won 6-0.
Vidic's hard tackle during training has angered Kezman, but the two worked out their differences over the weekend.
"I'm OK now. The knee is no longer swollen and I feel no pain," Kezman said from Serbia and Montenegro's training camp in Austria.
"I understand the pre-World Cup tensions, and after talking to Vidic and captain Savo Milosevic, we sorted out our differences," he added.
Kezman, who was Serbia-Montenegro's top striker with five goals during World Cup qualifying, plays for Atletico Madrid after having spent a season with Chelsea.
The Serbia and Montenegro team was scheduled to arrive at its training camp in Billerbeck in western Germany yesterday.
one match ban
Vidic, who plays for Manchester United, will miss the first game against the Netherlands because of a red card he received during Serbia and Montenegro's final group qualifying match against Bosnia-Herzegovina, which they won 1-0.
"It's tough for me that I'll have to watch the game, which may prove decisive in the group stage, from the stands," Vidic said. "But I'll be back against Argentina."
Formerly known as Yugoslavia, the country last qualified for the World Cup in 1998, reaching the round of 16 before being beaten by the Netherlands.
This will be its 10th trip to soccer's biggest event but the first -- and last -- under this name. Montenegro seceded from the union in an independence vote on May 21.
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