SERBIA’S NEW MANAGER Dragan Stojkovic has named his squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Ireland, Portugal and Azerbaijan.
Stojkovic was official appointed as successor to Ljubisa Tumbakovic on Wednesday and named his first international squad today.
Tumbakovic was sacked in December following Serbia’s penalty shoot-out defeat to Scotland.
And Stojkovic had wasted no time putting his own stamp on things ahead of Serbia’s opening World Cup qualifier against Stephen Kenny’s Ireland on 24 March.
The former Yugoslavia international has left out ex-Manchester City man Aleksandar Kolarov, now at Inter Milan, while Crystal Palace midfielder Luka Milivojevic also misses out.
Manchester United’s Nemanja Matic will also play no part, having retired from international football last year.
After taking on Ireland in Belgrade Serbia host European champions Portugal four days later, before a trip to play Azerbaikan on 30 March.
SERBIA SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Predrag Rajković (Reims), Marko Dmitrović (Eibar), Đordje Nikolić (Basel)
Defenders: Stefan Mitrovic (Strasbourg), Nikola Milenkovic (Fiorentina), Uros Spajic (Feyenoord), Milos Veljkovic (Werder Bremen), Strahinja Pavlovic (Cercle Brugge), Marko Petkovic (TSC), Milan Gajic (Red Star), Filip Mladenovic (Legia Warsaw)
Midfielders: Mihailo Ristic (Montpellier), Sasa Lukic (Torino), Uros Racic (Valencia), Nemanja Maksimovic (Getafe), Nemanja Gudelj (Sevilla), Nemanja Radonjic (Hertha), Dusan Tadic (Ajax), Nenad Krsticic (AEK), Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Lazio), Filip Djuricic (Sassuolo), Darko Lazovic (Verona), Marko Grujic (Porto), Ivan Ilic (Verona), Andrija Zivkovic (PAOK), Filip Kostic (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Forwards: Aleksandar Mitrović (Fulham), Luka Jović (Eintracht Frankfurt), Dušan Vlahović (Fiorentina) and Đordje Despotović (Rubin Kazan)
Bernard Jackman, Murray Kinsella and Gavan Casey chat deteriorating player-referee relationships, perception vs reality with Ireland, initiation songs, a potential ‘home’ Lions tour, and this weekend’s interpros:
The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud
