Serbia profile: All you need to know about Ireland's opponents for the opening World Cup qualifier
A general view of Stadion Rajko Mitic prior to the World Cup qualifier clash between the Republic of Ireland and Serbia. Picture: Stephen McCarthy
Belgrade, just like it did last time four-and-a-half years ago, marks the starting point for Ireland’s World Cup qualification quest. In that 2017 opener, Serbia dominated Ireland to lead 2-1 before Daryl Murphy nicked a point. Serbia recovered to win the group.
Today, Serbia sit 30th in Fifa’s rankings, 12 places above Ireland. While Ireland netted just eight goals across their European and Nations League campaigns, the flamboyant Serbs hit 26. Thankfully, for Ireland’s sake, they have a tendency to concede, too.
Here is the lowdown ahead of a big night for Stephen Kenny and his players.
Dragan Stojkovic Serbia's 10th manager since reaching the 2010 World Cup, Stojkovic was the star of Yugoslavia’s march to the 1990 World Cup quarter-finals. He has mapped out a coaching career in Japan and China. The 56-year-old officially started in the job this month. Axed Luka Milivojevic (Crystal Palace), Nikola Maksimovic (Napoli), and former Man City man Aleksandar Kolarov (Inter) while he wasn’t interested in coaxing Manchester United's Nemanja Matic out of retirement.
Red Star (Rajko Mitic) Stadium. Known for its long, cavernous tunnel from dressing room to pitch, the venue once hosted 110,000 fans, earning it the nickname of Europe’s Marakana Stadium but is scheduled to be rebuilt from next year.
Eight winless games have sapped the vitality from Stephen Kenny’s reign but a fast start to the campaign against Serbia and at home to Luxembourg on Saturday would regain momentum.
Much is expected tonight of Aaron Connolly, capped five times but without a game at Brighton for a month due to a cracked rib. Another fresh face of sorts is Josh Cullen who finally earned a call-up to the original squad following an impressive run at Belgian club Anderlecht. They, along with goalkeeper Mark Travers, have something to prove.
Serbia conceded 17 goals in their eight Euro qualifiers, failing to keep a clean sheet in any. Ukraine walloped them 5-0. Goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic was branded as the worst goalkeeper he’d ever seen by John Giles during Ireland's last visit to Serbia.
Just under a year ago, Kenny added assistant coach Damien Duff and goalkeeping coach to his frontline staff. Both quit within a week of each other in January. It took until four weeks ago for Anthony Barry to be appointed to replace Duff while Dean Kiely has taken over from Kelly.
Over eight games, Ireland have fashioned just 21 attempts on goal. We’ve gone 670 minutes without a goal.
Serbia are well stocked with strikers. Dusan Vlahovic’s 11 goals for Fiorentina have sparked interest from Real Madrid who allowed his compatriot, Luka Jović, to move on loan to Eintracht Frankfurt for €60m in 2019.
Aleksandar Mitrovic hasn’t found the net for Fulham since September but has 36 goals in 61 caps.
The new Serbia manager is expected to adopt a new approach and that spells good news for Vlahovic, who only turned 21 two months ago. His first-half hat-trick against Benevento in Serie A last week came at the perfect time for his ambitions of adding to his four caps.
Duffy hasn’t played for Celtic in almost six weeks. Aerial duels should be fine for the big Derryman but his ability to marshal the lightning-quick striker is questionable.
Milenkovic is another Serb star at Fiorentina, albeit slightly older at 23, and has been linked with a summer move to Tottenham. The 6’5” defender is remarkably comfortable on the ball. Connolly is desperate to perform on the big stage.
Ireland’s captain finally gets his chance in the Kenny era and is in for a busy night if assigned the mission of keeping the Serbian skipper quiet. Ajax even withdrew him at half-time in Sunday’s landslide of Ado Den Haag in preparation for his big week.
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