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World Cup Class of 2018: Serbia

Photo Credit: Stephen Gormley (Redeye photo agency)

Population: 7.0 million

Capital: Belgrade

Team Colors: Red and White

How Qualified: Won UEFA Group D

Nickname: Orlovi (The Eagles)

12th World Cup

Head Coach: Mladen Krstajic (SRB)

Key Players: Nemanja Matic (Manchester United), Branislav Ivanovic (Zenit St. Petersburg), Aleksandar Kolarov (AS Roma), Aleksandar Mitrovic (Fulham)

Best Performance: Third Place (1930)

Can they gel under a new manager? If you are wondering how this is the 12th World Cup for Serbia, the first nine were under the Yugoslavia banner and one under “Serbia and Montenegro”.

Serbia qualified comfortably in UEFA Group D over the likes of Republic of Ireland, Austria, and Wales; but that was not enough to save the job of Slavoljub Muslin. Mladen Krstajic takes over and has precious little time to get his squad to buy into his system. Krstajic is the fifth manager for Serbia since 2014.

It is a mainly youthful squad for Serbia. Chief among this group is forward Aleksandar Mitrovic who spent the season with newly-promoted Fulham. Mitrovic scored six goals in qualifying and two more recently in a friendly against Nigeria. Another promising youngster is Lazio’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic who could compliment Mitrovic up front.

The defense is veteran one led by Branislav Ivanovic (now of Zenit St. Petersburg) and Aleksandar Kolarov. However, that defense is aging a lacking a little pace according to the pundits.

Given the group they are in for Russia, the battle may be for second with Costa Rica and Switzerland after the opening match against Brazil. It is a youthful squad with just five players in the preliminary squad north of 30. It all depends on how quickly players buy into the system of Krstajic. The sooner that happens, the better their chances of getting out of the group stage.

Schedule:

June 17: vs. Costa Rica in Samara (7am CT on FOX/Telemundo)

June 22: vs. Switzerland in Kaliningrad (1pm CT on FOX/Telemundo)

June 27: vs. Brazil in Moscow (1pm CT on FOX/Telemundo)

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Sean Maslin

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World Cup Class of 2018: Serbia

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World Cup Class of 2018: Serbia

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