Serbia National Team World Cup Betting
Serbia has been unable to make the knockout stages of the World Cup ever since Yugoslavia fractured into several countries in the 1990s. We have seen Serbia make it to the biggest international competition in football twice since Serbia and Montenegro disintegrated, but they won one game in the Group Stage and made an early exit both times. They have a real chance to advance this time, but Serbia must earn results against Cameroon and Switzerland.
Manager: Dragan Stojkovic
Nickname: The Eagles
Confederation: UEFA (Europe)
FIFA Ranking: 25 (March 2022)
Serbia World Cup Betting Odds
To Win Group G: +575
To Win 2022 World Cup: +15000
*Odds as of May 4, 2022
Serbia Group Stage Schedule
Brazil vs. Serbia, Thursday, November 24, 2022, 2 p.m. ET, at Lusail Iconic Stadium in Lusail (FOX)
Cameroon vs. Serbia, Monday, November 28, 2022, 5 a.m. ET, at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah (FS1)
Serbia vs. Switzerland, Friday, December 2, 2022, 2 p.m. ET, at Stadium 974 in Doha (FS1)
History at the World Cup
Appearances: 12 (first in 1930)
Best Result: Fourth place (1930, 1962)
Things get complicated quickly when you are discussing the history of Serbian football. Serbia was the primary nation in the former republic of Yugoslavia, and FIFA recognizes Serbia as the direct successor to Yugoslavia, FR Yugoslavia, and Serbia and Montenegro.
Yugoslavia was a power on the international stage off and on for six decades. They came in fourth place at the inaugural World Cup in Uruguay, beating both Brazil and Bolivia. They lost in the semifinals to Uruguay, and they failed to qualify for the next two World Cup competitions.
The country was one of the best in Europe for over a decade after World War II. Yugoslavia put together a string of four consecutive finishes in the top seven at the World Cup.
They had the misfortune of being drawn into Brazil’s group in 1950, resulting in Yugoslavia failing to make the semifinals despite three-goal wins over Switzerland and Mexico. They fell to West Germany in the quarterfinals of the 1954 and 1958 World Cup, but they finally beat West Germany in the knockout rounds in 1962. Unfortunately, they fell to Czechoslovakia in the semifinals after a late brace from Adolf Scherer.
Yugoslavia only made the quarterfinals one more time before the country dissolved, and that was at the 1990 World Cup. They have since competed as FR Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Serbia at this event. Unfortunately, a stunning win over Germany in 2010 wasn’t enough to get Serbia out of the Group Stage due to losses to both Ghana and Australia, and they were unable to get to the knockout rounds four years ago after losses to Group G mates Switzerland and Brazil.
What to Watch
Revenge will be on Serbia’s mind after failing to qualify over Switzerland and Brazil in 2018. Serbia took an early lead on Switzerland in their match in Russia, but Granit Xhaka leveled in the 52nd minute before Xherdan Shaqiri scored the game winner in the 90th minute for the Swiss.
Captain Dusan Tadic is one of the stars of the Serbian team. Tadic has scored 18 goals in 84 matches, and he is a solid distributor with the ball at his feet. Nemanja Gudelj and Nemanja Radonjic are quality midfielders too.
Aleksandar Mitrovic is already the top scorer in Serbian history. Mitrovic is just 27 years old, but he has already tallied 44 goals in 71 matches for the Eagles. He has scored nearly 100 goals in four years with Fulham, and there are Golden Boot betting options available with him. Mitrovic was pretty obviously brought down in the box against Switzerland in Russia, so he would love to fire in a goal against the Swiss.
There are other talented young forwards too in Luka Jovic and Dusan Vlahovic. That could lead to Serbia being one of the surprise teams of the competition, as we saw with Croatia last time.
Log into BookMaker Sportsbook and get the best Soccer Betting Odds, Soccer Betting Articles and information about this and all other sports betting events!
