Team of Serbia at the World Cup 2022

The World Cup starts in November, 12 European teams are going to the World Cup. The Serbian national team is not a favorite of the tournament, but can compete with top teams for higher places. The Serbs always bring strong named lineups to major tournaments, but they perform very poorly there. Dragan Stojkovic’s team at the 2022 World Cup is quite strong in terms of composition. But what about Stojkovic himself?

The 57-year-old Serb has won many trophies for Yugoslav teams and national teams, but as a coach he has few achievements: a championship title in Japan’s Nagoya Grampus Eight and the title of coach of the year in Japan. At the national team level, Serbia is Stojkovic’s first team. Despite the lack of experience, he managed to reach the FIFA World Cup, ahead of Portugal itself. What Stojkovic’s team will show in Qatar is a big mystery.

Serbia squad for the 2022 World Cup

The Serbian squad has several star players from top clubs. Nearly 80% of the players called up for matches before the World Cup play for strong European clubs. At the same time, team leaders do not always play a key role in the national team - this is a feature of many Balkan teams. Our editors tried to make forecast for the World Cup 2022 matches - what application will the team have. We take the performances of the players in the current season and friendly matches as a basis.

Goalkeepers

The goalkeeper position of the Serbian national team is an open question. Three approximately equal in level, but rather average goalkeepers claim the position. There are two experienced goalkeepers Rajković and Dmitrović, the younger brother Sergei Vanya Milinković-Savic will be on the team. Whom Stojkovic will bet on will be shown, among other things, by friendly matches for the 2022 World Cup.

Protection

In the central zone, the time of Ivanovic has passed for the Serbs, but he has worthy and promising successors: Milenkovic (Fiorentina) and Pavlovic (Monaco). In defense, the team is very young and still little known to the general public. Only Veljkovic from Werder stands out. Mladenovic will play along the edges, Stojkovic most often plays a fullback on the right.

Midfield

In the central zone of the Serbian national team, Sergei Milinkovic-Savic stands out as one of the main stars of Lazio and the team. And without him, there are young players in the support zone: Rasic from Braga, Lukic from Torino and Ilic from Verona. In the attacking zone, the undoubted leader is Juventus newcomer Filip Kostic, who can close the entire edge on the left.

Assault

In attack, Serbian fans rely on Vlahovic, who stubbornly leads Juventus forward. He will be assisted by the captain of the Serbian national team and the clear leader in the dressing room from Ajax Tadic. But all eyes will be on Championship goalscorer Mitrovic, who continues to score in the Premier League with Fulham. In the attack there is the main winger Zivkovic, covering the right flank in a 3-5-2 formation. In the reserve sits unjustified Jovic and young winger Radonich.

History of the Serbian national team at the World Cups

The difficult history of Yugoslavia, as well as the period of existence of Serbia and Montenegro, is not taken into account. For the first time, the Serbian team made its debut in 2006, for the 3rd World Cup the team entered the tournament twice and was eliminated in the group stage, finishing 4th in 2010, and 3rd in 2018.

How did the Serbs get to Qatar?

Quite unexpectedly, the Serbian national football team entered the World Cup directly from qualifying group A, ahead of Portugal, Ireland and Luxembourg. The Serbs have never lost to Cristiano’s team in two matches and deservedly qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. For 8 matches, Stojkovic’s wards won 6 wins and 2 draws, conceding only 9 goals.

The match with Portugal in Belgrade ended in a scandal when the referee did not count Ronaldo’s winning goal in the 90th minute, although the ball completely crossed the goal line.

Serbia national team at the 2022 World Cup: group, opponents, predictions

Group G at the Fifa World Cup is a real flashback for fans of the national teams of Serbia, Brazil and Switzerland. These teams exactly 4 years ago identified the strongest at the World Cup in Russia. Qatar will host them again, but Cameroon will play instead of Costa Rica. In terms of composition, the Serbian national team is not an outsider, but group G is rightly considered the «death» group - even Cameroon has a chance to reach the playoffs.

The forecast for the World Cup for the Serbian national team is the maximum access to the playoffs of the World Cup. The compositions of Switzerland and Brazil look more prepared, past performances and dependence on the game of bright stars of the national team speak not in favor of the Serbs. Tadic and Vlahovic and Mitrovic did not often play together to perform powerfully at the World Cup.