A Balkan meeting in the second round of the Nations League: Serbia visits neighbor Montenegro.
Montenegro:
Four teams play in League C, the third division of the Nations League. Besides the opponent of Thursday Serbia, Montenegro played against Lithuania and Romania earlier. Last month, Montenegro won four points in those two games. Against Romania, scoreless was tied and Lithuania was defeated 2-0 thanks to goals by Stefan Savic and Marko Jankovic.
Montenegro is not a big name in European football, but it often makes it easier to make better teams. Last summer, the squad pitched for the playoffs of the World Cup only missed four points. In a qualifying pool with Poland, Denmark, it finished third, with sixteen points from ten matches, above Romania, Kazakhstan and Armenia.
The Montenegrin team has many unknown players, but some good footballers. The captain of the team is Atlético Madrid-defender Stefan Savic and the attacker is Stevan Jovetic of AS Monaco. Adam Marusic (Lazio) and Nikola Vukcevic (ex-Braga, now Levante) also play in major competitions.
Serbia:
Serbia wants to regain a more or less failed World Championship in Russia in the Nations League. The team was assigned to title favorite Brazil and underdog Costa Rica and therefore seemed to have to compete with Switzerland for the second place. This meeting was decided in Switzerland in the controversial contest in which Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka scored and celebrated their goal with an ‘Eagle’ gesture, a reference to the Albanian-Kosovar roots of their ancestors. When the Serbs, who participated in the World Cup in 2006 under the name Serbia-Montenegro, also lost to Brazil in the last game, the World Cup dream broke up.
In the Nations League, Serbia has collected four points just like Montenegro. Like Montenegro, the Serbs of Lithuania also won and played against Romania. Incidentally, national coach Mladen Krstajic lacks the necessary experience. After the World Cup, Branislav Ivanovic set a point behind his international career and captain Aleksandar Kolarov and vice-captain Nemanja Matic are missing due to injury. Other experienced forces like Dusan Basta (Lazio), Ivan Obradovic (Anderlecht), Nikola Maksimovic (Napoli) and Matija Nastasic (Schalke 04) have not been called.
PREDICTION: BTS / NO @ 1.70
