Billerbeck: Serbia-Montenegro’s players, already eliminated from the World Cup, are being threatened with fines if they do not try hard enough in their last match against Ivory Coast. Argentina and The Netherlands have advanced from Group C.

“We have some euro500,000 ($632,000) left for the players,” Serbia-Montenegro Football Association president Tomislav Karadzic said on Sunday. “But, we’ll award only World Cup results and not a fiasco.”

Serbia-Montenegro team spokesman Aleksandar Boskovic said that “financial penalties” will be imposed against players who don’t take the game against the Ivorians seriously.

“The game against Ivory Coast is our absolute priority at this moment,” Boskovic said. “We can lose, but only with some dignity.”

“Against Ivory Coast, we will try to salvage some of our pride,” said coach Ilija Petkovic, who announced that he would be stepping down after the World Cup. “We have to try and evade the humiliation that we have suffered here so far.”