The Teams of the 2022 World Cup – Serbia (Group G)

Serbia World Cup 2022
Serbia

The team has been playing under the name of Serbia only since 2006. Prior to that, they participated in two World Cups as Serbia & Montenegro.

As part of the Yugoslavian team, they also placed 4th twice and made numerous quarterfinal appearances.

As the country of Serbia themselves, they were eliminated early from the tournament in both 2010 and 2018.

In 2018, their group opponents were Brazil, Costa Rica and Switzerland, with only the match against Costa Rica being decided in their favor.

The road to qualification

In Group A of the European qualifying round, the Serbian team faced Portugal, Ireland, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan. Out of their 8 matches, they won 6 and drew twice.

Until the last matchday, they were still tied on points behind Portugal, but then won 2-1 in the direct duel in Portugal and thus surprisingly secured the group victory and the ticket for direct qualification.

The country is currently 25th in the Fifa world rankings.

The stars

Particularly noteworthy is goal-scorer Dusan Vlahovic, who made a name for himself before his move to Juventus Turin with his extraordinary record of 24 goal assists in 24 competitive matches for AC Florence in the preliminary round of the 21/22 season. However, at Juve he only managed 11 goal assists in 21 games.

By winning the Europa League, left winger Filip Kostic (Eintracht Frankfurt) also played his way back into the international spotlight.

In midfield, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Lazio Roma) provides order and creative impetus.

The coach

As a player, Dragan Stojkovic was one of the outstanding midfield directors of the late 80s and early 90s.

As a coach, he was mainly active in the Asian region between 2008 and 2020 with Nagoya Grampus in Japan and Guangzhou in China.

In March 2021, he took over the Serbian national team and averaged 2.06 points in 18 games with them.

His preferred playing system with Serbia was a 3-4-1-2.

Best lineup

Predrag Rajkovic (RCD Mallorca) – Nikola Milenkovic (AC Florence), Strahinja Pavlovic (RB Salzburg), Milos Veljkovic (Werder Bremen) – Filip Kostic (Eintracht Frankfurt), Nemanja Maksimovic (Getafe FC), Marko Grujic (FC Porto), Andrija Zivkovic (PAOK Thessaloniki) – Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Lazio Roma) – Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus Turin), Dusan Tadic (Ajax Amsterdam)

World Championship 2022

Serbia will face two old acquaintances in Group G at the World Cup in Qatar: Brazil and Switzerland were also among the opponents in Russia. In addition, there will be the strong African representative from Cameroon.

The 2022 Serbian team is as strong as it has ever been and has exceptional players in all parts of the team. Especially on the offensive, Serbia can make a splash with its striker Dusan Vlahovic and whirlwind Filip Kostic, as well as the driving force Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.

And with Jovic and Mitroski, coach Stojakovic has two top-class strikers as alternatives.

This team can take on all opponents in the groupif their coach has a handle on the often difficult characters.

A similar big surprise as in the case of Croatia 2018 is quite conceivable.

Odds

  • Qualification for the round of 16 – 2.10
  • No qualification for the round of 16 – 1.66
  • Qualification quarterfinals – 6.50
  • Qualification semifinal – 13,00
  • World Champion – 151,00

Odds from bet365. Odds represent a snapshot and may change at any time. Odds without guarantee.

Other teams in World Cup Group G: