Serbia take on Czech Republic in the early evening match in the European Under-21 Championship at the Generali Arena, Prague, on Saturday.
The Serbians managed to grab a hard-earned draw versus one of the tournament favourites Germany last time out, whilst the Czechs looked set to defy the odds and defeat Denmark, but gave up a lead to lose 2-1.
The Eastern European nation are starting to understand life without Matija Nastasic and Lazar Markovic isn’t as easy a transition as they would have wanted and were unable to push on to find all three points up against a ten man Germany on Wednesday night. Borussia Dortmund’s Milos Jojic is the key man for this upcoming battle however, hoping to be their new knight in shining armour.
The 23-year-old will be the centre of attention for his country this tournament, just how he likes it. Jojic’s performances for Partizan before his transfer showed he has the ability to perform against lesser opposition, and his eye for goal and a great crossing ability from a set piece will prove vital.
Mladen Dodic is the man in charge, but the trouble is there isn’t much support for the current coach, with fans believing his playing style in a 4-4-1-1 formation doesn’t work. This joins alongside the fact past results prior to some big friendly wins show they are not one of the favourites for the competition.
There are no fresh injury or suspension concerns for the man at the helm going into their second group game.
Their opponents the Czechs, hosts of this biannual tournament, needed to be on song if they want to repeat their 2002 success. They attempted to stamp their authority down in the first match, which they did for 45 minutes thanks to a great curling effort from Pavel Kaderabek. Unfortunately, they went on to lose 2-1 after failing to deal with two hopeful balls into their box.
Coach Jakub Dovalil is set to stick with a 4-1-4-1 set-up, and will be hoping captain Jakub Brabec shows some improvement after a shaky and rather inconsistent first game at the back.
The good news is striker Vaclav Kadlac is back from suspension and should start. The forward has scored seven times in the last dozen games for the team as well as being their main centre-forward, following the blocked call-up in the shape of Matej Vydra.
Form Guide: Serbia (D-W-L-W-D-W) Czech Republic (L-W-D-L-L-W)
Expected Starting XIs
Serbia: Dmitrovic; Veljkovic, Petrovic, Cirkovic, Jojic, Kovacevic, Radoja, Causic, Srnic, Pesic, Cavric
Czech Republic: Koubek; Kaderabek, Brabec, Baranek, Hybs; Petrak, Zmrhal, Travnik, Prikryl, Krejci; Skalak
