Match Previews

Serbia enter the World Cup surrounded by skepticism, mostly due to their FA's decision to replace Slavoljub Muslin with rookie manager Mladen Krstajic. Aleksandar Mitrovic and Adem Ljajic are both available. Matija Nastasic is out.

The big talking point regarding Serbia in the build-up to this World Cup was their FA's decision to fire head coach Slavoljub Muslin, despite him leading them to the top spot in the group. Their handling of the search for his replacement was even more puzzling, as he was replaced by his former assistant Mladen Krstajic, who has no previous managerial experience.

Serbia's recent friendlies saw them fall to a 1:0 defeat against Chile's second-string side before claiming a 5:1 win over Bolivia's heavily-rotated side. Krstajic himself also made plenty of changes for the Chile game and not much regarding Serbia's current state can be deduced from their previous two games.

Matija Nastasic, who suffered a season-ending injury with Schalke in early April, was in the provisional squad for the World Cup. However, he failed to recover in time and is not among the 23 players who traveled to Russia.

With Nastasic being a regular starter, Krstajic has to make a decision on who will replace him in central defence. One option is for Branislav Ivanovic to play there, with Antonio Rukavina at right-back. The other is for Ivanovic to play at right-back, with Fiorentina man Nikola Milenkovic, who impressed in recent friendlies, starting in central defence.

Aleksandar Mitrovic and Adem Ljajic have both missed some training this week due to minor injuries but are back in full training and will be available.

Serbia have won one and lost five of their last six World Cup group stage games. Amazingly, their sole win in those games has come against Germany back in 2010.