Serbia ‘afraid of none’ but Kostic’s fitness a worry
Coach Stojkovic says Serbia should focus on their football
WINGER Filip Kostic is in danger of missing Serbia’s World Cup opener against Brazil on Thursday due to a thigh injury. “We already have 99% of the line-up in mind. But what I can say is that there is still a big question mark over Kostic,” Serbia coach Dragan Stojkovic told a news conference on Wednesday.
The Juventus player has only done running practice in Qatar so far.
Stojkovic considers the group with Brazil, Switzerland and Cameroon “the most difficult of the whole World Cup. We Serbians are not happy with this draw.”
The 57-year-old, who was a star of the former Yugoslavia team at the 1990 World Cup, also said of the Brazil clash: “It will be a tough game. An extremely difficult game. But the game starts 0-0. And we
are not afraid of anyone in the world. Not even of Brazil.
“Brazil is a great team. For me it’s a golden generation at the moment and we expect of course a difficult game but we must focus on our football and try to be good opponents.” stressed Stojkovic. Serbia failed to make it out of their group four years ago after losing 2-0 to Brazil in their final match.
This time, however, they are potentially dangerous dark horses in Qatar after topping their qualifying group ahead of Portugal and most recently winning their Nations League section.
Ranked 21st in the FIFA rankings, Serbia do however come into their opening match in Group G with concerns surrounding
the fitness of a key player in the shape of Kostic.
“It is a huge question mark
as to whether he is going to join us because he got an injury in his last game with Juventus,”
said Stojkovic adding that striker Aleksandar Mitrovic is expected to play.