Serbia coach Radomir Antic cut Vojvodina Novi Sad goalkeeper Zeljko Brkic from the final World Cup squad on Tuesday.
Antic took four goalkeepers to a training camp in Austria but decided to leave Brkic out of the 23-man squad that will travel to the tournament in South Africa.
"I had to leave one player out and such a decision is never easy to make. I told Zeljko that being in the training camp should be a stimulus for his career and that I still will count on him," Antic told reporters Tuesday, according to Tanjug news agency.
Goalkeeping is considered to be one of Serbia's weak points. Vladimir Stojkovic, who is regarded as the No. 1, has struggled to make the team at both Sporting Lisbon and later on loan at Wigan in the Premier League this season.
Dejan Stankovic, who plays for Champions League winner Inter Milan, will captain "The Eagles", who take on Germany, Ghana and Australia in Group D.
The squad also includes defenders Nemanja Vidic of Manchester United and Branislav Ivanovic of Chelsea, as well as CSKA Moscow winger Zeljko Krasic and Milan Jovanovic of Standard Liege.
Recent Birmingham signing Nikola Zigic is one of the four strikers. Antic had earlier cut the Chelsea pair of Slobodan Rajkovic and Nemanja Matic from his provisional squad of 30, and also left out Ajax forward Miralem Sulejmani, PSV Eindhoven defender Jagos Vukovic, Partizan Belgrade midfielder Nemanja Tomic and Red Star Belgrade striker Dejan Lekic.
The only two players included who play in the Serbian league are Vojvodina striker Dragan Mrdja and Partizan midfielder Radosav Petrovic.
Serbia will play Poland in a friendly in Austria on Wednesday as it looks to redeem itself after losing 1-0 to New Zealand in a warmup over the weekend.
Serbia squad:
Goalkeepers: Vladimir Stojkovic (Sporting Lisbon), Bojan Isailovic (Zaglebie Lubin), Andjelko Djuricic (Uniao Leiria).
Defenders: Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea), Antonio Rukavina (1860 Munich), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Neven Subotic (Borussia Dortmund), Aleksandar Lukovic (Udinese), Ivan Obradovic (Real Zaragoza), Aleksandar Kolarov (Lazio).
Chelsea Football Club announces the signing of midfielder Nemanja Matic on a four-year contract.
The 21-year-old joins us from Slovak side MFK Kosice and is highly regarded around Europe as a talent to look out for in the future.
Matic already has two full Serbia caps, playing alongside Branislav Ivanovic, and was at the Under 21 European Championships in Sweden this summer, although a broken metatarsal ended his tournament in the first game against Italy.
That injury means he will be ruled out for a number of weeks yet, although he is recovering well, and he is delighted to be a Chelsea player.
'I know a lot about Chelsea, I have been following them,' he said. 'I play together with Branislav in the national team and have spoken to him about Chelsea. The first time when I met him to play in the national team I asked a couple of questions,' Matic added.
He may be a relative unknown to Blues fans, so chelseafc.com asked the player to say a few words about himself.
'I am a solid midfield player, I have a lot to offer and for sure to progress and I will show everyone why I am at Chelsea,' he began.
'I am a central-midfielder, and I know I am not well known but I have physical power and I am quite a technical, left-footed player.
'Since the age of 18 I have been at Kosice, and before that I had played in the youth team of Red Star Belgrade.'
Matic, who is 6ft 4ins tall and also holds a Slovak passport, has been heavily trailed by other Premier League clubs, and actually spent some time on trial at Middlesbrough in January.
'I was there in the winter, when I came it was winter in the north of England so it was not very nice, but the squad was okay and I liked it,' he said.
Hopefully London will be a more hospitable destination, and while Matic does not yet speak English, having Ivanovic alongside, as well as other eastern European influences Andriy Shevchenko and Yuri Zhirkov, he is sure to settle quickly.
Nemanja has got two nationalities. He is born of Serbian and he obtained Slovak nationality. His younger brother Uroš plays for MFK Košice. After having a trial early in the 2008-2009 Premiership season, it was believed Middlesbrough F.C. were leading the pack to sign the young Serbian star, but the trial was cut short as he was called up for Serbia's full squad for a friendly against Denmark.
