The World Cup is ominously close! So that you aren't caught offside (they have that in soccer, right?), we're previewing all the participants, bringing you Four Things You Don't Know About Them. If you have a tidbit, send it along to tips@Deadspin.com. Today: Serbia and Montenegro! And for World Cup previews that are even better than ours, check out That's On Point, who helped us with these as well.
• 1. Home Of Big D. Their defense is crazy good. They gave up only one goal in the final 10 matches of World Cup Qualifiers, and that was to Spain's Raul, of Real Madrid fame. They finished 6-0-4, one of the few countries to do that. — (thanks to Eric Race).
• 2. Remembering Preki. MLS legend, yes legend, Preki was born in Serbia. He scored the lone goal to defeat Brazil in 1998 Gold Cup. Too bad he was wasted away in front of 1,000 fans per game with the Kansas City Wizards. The guy was good. — (thanks to Mike Cardillo).
• 3. S&M Explained. It's apparently a marriage of convenience. S&M (ha, we just noticed that) was the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and considered by FIFA as the descendent of the fairly succesful formerly unified Yugoslavia. The two kingdoms could actually split, in a referundum, if there was majority support. That hasn't happened yet. Oddly enough, only five percent of the country's population are ethnic Montenegrans. — (thanks to Eric Race).
• 4. Just Eat It. Eat It. Belgrades's FK Partizan has one of the better feeder systems in Europe. It hardcore fans call themselves Grobari — the Undertakers. The club's basketball branch is where bearded Laker legend Vlade Divac got his start. Divac triggered the world-reknowed training method of smoking whilst playing and growing neck-beards. He also triggered the floodgates so the likes of Marko Jaric, Vladimir Radmanovic, Predrag Drobnjak and the immortal Darko Milosic could play in the NBA. And as if that wasn't enough, please note that Weird Al Yankovic is of Serbian descent. — (thanks to Mike Cardillo).
(Tomorrow: Iran)