With the 2022 FIFA World Cup kicking off in six days, it’s time to explore one of Group G’s top challengers – the Eagles of Serbia.
Every day until November 20th, we’ll explore a different team represented in this year’s tournament, from Group A to Group H, including predictions about where they’ll end up.
Yesterday, we looked at Group G’s projected winner, Neymar’s nearly-unstoppable Brazil. Now let’s look at one of the teams battling for second place: Aleksandar Mitrović’s Serbia.
Serbia
Group G
Nickname: The Eagles
Colors: Red, white, gold
Location:
Coach: Dragan Stojković (Serbia)
Top Players:
Defender Nikola Milenković and forward Luka Jović both hail from Fiorentina, the former club of Serbian teammate Dušan Vlahović, who now scores for Juventus. Many of the attacking players come from Lazio, Verona, Sampdoria, and Torino while all-time Serbian leading scorer Aleksandar Mitrović is having a hell of a season in the Premier League with Fulham. Also, keep an eye out for captain Dušan Tadić of Ajax.
Team History:
Qatar will be the 12th World Cup appearance for the Serbians, whose best results came in 1930 and 1962 when they finished in fourth. The Eagles bowed out of the 2018 group stages with two losses, including a 2-0 defeat to Brazil.
Serbia is 5-1-2 in 2022, but none of the wins are against World Cup qualifying teams. Their only match against a WC squad resulted in a 3-0 loss to Denmark in March.
Tournament Prediction: Round of 16 loss to Uruguay.
Serbia has the unfortunate task of playing Brazil first, which will surely result in a loss for the Eagles. However, Serbia is more than capable of bouncing back against Cameroon, leading up to a final showdown with Switzerland to determine who follows Brazil to the group stages. We think Serbia has the edge and will face the Group H winner, Uruguay. There, Serbia’s run will end, probably in a 1-0 defeat.
Featured Image: Generated Image: DALL-E 2/FootballAssociationofSerbia/DM