Serbia vs Montenegro PREVIEW & PREDICTION 17/11/2018

In the Nations League C Saturday afternoon the neighbors’ quarrel between Serbia and Montenegro is on the program. It promises to be a hot afternoon in Belgrade, because both Balkan countries are still in the race for promotion to League B.

Serbia:

Serbia is fine for it. With eight points from four matches, the country is in the lead, although it feels the hot breath of Montenegro (seven points) and Romania (six points in the neck). With a victory over Montenegro, however, promotion can hardly go wrong, also because Serbia is taking on the already degraded and still scoreless Lithuania in the last group match.

To be honest, League C is also a bit too low for Serbia, because the country has a very nice selection. Players like Nemanja Matic (Manchester United), Aleksandar Mitrovic (Fulham), Breath Ljajic (Besiktas), Aleksandar Kolarov (AS Roma) and Dusan Tadic (Ajax) about various players who have already earned their spurs in international top-class football. Particularly the midfield is with Tadic, Matic and Ljajic to lick. Normally Sergei Milinkovic-Savic also belongs in that list at home, but the Lazio midfielder is in the basket. The rearguard is doing fine with three clean sheets in four Nations League matches, but this interland period coach Mladen Krstajic has a goalkeeper problem. Both Vladimir Stojkovic and Marko Dmitrovic are injured, so Pedrag Rajkovic (Maccabi Tel Aviv) is likely to be under the bar.

Montenegro:

Montenegro played in the past under the Serbian and Yugoslav flag, but has been on its own feet since 2006. The country was close to qualifying for a big tournament a few times, but did not realize her big dream yet. In De Nations League C De Dappere Valken are doing fine with seven points out of four matches, although on Saturday-evening it will have to be won anyway in order to keep the chance of promotion to League B alive.

Winning in Belgrade will, however, be a hell of a job, because Montenegro will have to do without its star players. Both captain Stevan Jovetic (Monaco) and vice-captain Stefan Savic (Atletico Madrid) are injured. National coach Ljubisa Tumbakovic is therefore with his hands in the hair, because the rest of the Montenegrin selection is not very common. The chance that you will win the war with players like Zarko Tomasevic (Ostend) or Aleksandar Boljevic (Waasland-Beveren) seems to me to be very small.


PREDICTION: Serbia to win @ 1.40

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