The Serbians face Germany at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth tomorrow knowing defeat would almost certainly ensure their exit from the tournament.

They lost 1-0 to Ghana in their opening game on Sunday, hours before Germany dismantled 10-man Australia to lay down a marker to the rest of the big guns.

Antic was hugely impressed by that performance, and knows his side will have to be much better than it was in Pretoria to keep alive their hopes of making the last 16.

He said: "Our opponent is the team which played the best game in the first part of this World Cup.

"They played a very good quality game and, unfortunately, we lost in our first game.

"We are quite conscious of the fact that we didn't play at the level we are used to in the game against Ghana, and that game showed us that we have to be much more relaxed when we play tomorrow.

"We must not have any burden preventing us from reaching our goal and each player has to do better than he has done before.

"I am sure every player will manage to find the special energy needed to win against a very good opponent.

"We are quite aware of the situation we are in but, objectively speaking, everything depends on other games that will be played.

"Even if we draw, maybe we will manage to go to the second round, which is our great wish."

Antic admitted he had to lift his players after the disappointment of the result at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium, but is confident there will be no hangover.

He said: "We started with a bad result, I am quite aware of that. How do I feel? I feel quite fine.

"I have tried as a coach to do whatever I could so that each of my players starts the game tomorrow in the best of his form."

Serbia will be forced to make at least one change to his team with defender Aleksandar Lukovic suspended following his dismissal against Ghana.

With the experienced Ivica Dragutinovic having not made the trip to South Africa because of an Achilles injury, Lukovic's place will be taken by Borussia Dortmund's Neven Subotic, and Antic is confident the 21-year-old is up to the job.

He said: "I don't like to talk about players who are not available. Lukovic is a good player but, as he is not going to be able to play, I'm not going to talk about him.

"Subotic will be very motivated to play well. He is a very good replacement for Lukovic.

"He will start the game - but don't ask me to tell you the other 10. We will see tomorrow."

Serbia trained at Nelson Mandela Metro University this afternoon and then walked the pitch at the match stadium, and they did so in bright sunshine - much to the delight of their coach after days of rain and wind in the Eastern Cape.

Antic said: "I am very pleased because I am very happy with the temperature and the sun we are having today.

"It seems the bad weather is behind us, so there's nothing to be particularly worried about on that front.

"We heard about the wind and about the rain, but here it is beautiful weather.

"We are very pleased with the conditions and we are expecting to be able to show what we can do tomorrow."