Belgrade newspaper Blic screamed "Heidi Klum has sent us to hell," after the World Cup draw left Serbia and Montenegro facing Argentina, Ivory Coast and Holland in World Cup Group C but, while the German supermodel did not exactly do any favours to the country once known as Yugoslavia, coach Ilija Petkovic is confident his team can survive the fire and brimstone and progress to the last 16.

The group has been tagged as this year's "group of death" - a phrase which has an uneasy ring to it considering what the people of the former Yugoslavia have recently had to endure - yet Petkovic remains optimistic his team can progress.

Petkovic said: "There's no need for us to discuss or long for what could have been.

"We are in a group with Argentina, the Netherlands and one of the strongest African nations, the Ivory Coast, and we have to deal with that.

"I'm sure we are as intimidating to the Argentinians and the Dutch as they are to our fans but I am optimistic and I am sure all my players are.

"I have emphasised many times the most important thing is that we are going to Germany. My first impression is that our group is the hardest, but we had the hardest group in qualification as well.

"I was optimistic then, and I am optimistic now. We are a small country, we are poor and we are in transition, but in the qualifiers we fought with big countries like Spain and Belgium.

"We fought with our hearts, with knowledge and with a desire to prove people wrong. We are not afraid of anything or anyone."

It is a mark of the strength of character of a man who has had to overcome a lot of adversity to get where he is today.

As a player Petkovic won 43 caps and scored six goals between 1968 and 1974, when he was in the 1974 Yugoslavia World Cup Squad - ironically the last time Germany, or more precisely West Germany, hosted the tournament.

He spent the bulk of his playing career with Yugoslavian first division club OFK Belgrade, for whom he played more than 500 matches in over 15 years.

After beginning his coaching career with OFK, Petkovic went on to win the Swiss championship with Servette and also worked in Greece. Then in 2003 Petkovic replaced Dejan Savicevic, who resigned as the national team's coach due to poor performances in the failed qualifying campaign for Euro 2004.

His first game in charge ended in a 1-0 victory over Wales, but the game had to be postponed for five months following the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.

Tragedy struck again in March 2003, when Serbia and Montenegro Football Federation president Branko Bulatovic was shot dead on the steps of the federation's offices, and Petkovic was the man who found him.

"I will never forget that. It was a tragedy and we were all affected. I feared the football balloon would burst. He had arranged the schedule of fixtures for the World Cup qualifiers, so I wanted to reach Germany for his memory," said Petkovic.

"Our mentality is like this: we are a small nation but we can be great out of our stubborn spirit."

Petkovic cannot even take his dog out for a walk in the streets of Belgrade as he still fears he may suffer the same fate as Bulatovic and Djindjic.

However, Petkovic turned around a dire side to inspire an excellent performance in the qualifying stage, managing to concede only one goal in 10 matches.

Instead of the offensive systems played by former Yugoslavian teams, Petkovic has done a great job with the defence, and his directions are perfectly adopted by the back-line.

The country's fortunes changed when Petkovic took over following a defeat by Azerbaijan which ended their Euro 2004 hopes and they have not lost a competitive match since.

Their campaign began with a 3-0 drubbing of minnows San Marino, including results over group favourites Belgium and Spain, and ended with a memorable 1-0 defeat of Balkan rivals Bosnia-Herzegovina. They kept seven consecutive clean sheets - a new international record - to propel them to the top of group seven, a position they clung on to until the end.

Petkovic has brought the best out of young players like Nemanja Vidic, Igor Duljaj and Zvonimir Vukic; taught frugality to a relatively unknown back four of Mladen Krstajic, Vidic, Goran Gavrancic and Ivica Dragutinovic; and been blessed with the explosive attacking talents of Dejan Stankovic and Mateja Kezman. The average age of what is likely to be the starting XI is around 28, meaning this could be the best chance of international success with the current crop of players.