Both Serbia and Switzerland will come into the highly-important second-round tie in high spirits following their fine showings against Costa Rica and Brazil.This is definitely one of the affairs to watch representing the direct battle for the progression to the knockout phase.
Switzerland continued from where they stopped in the qualifying campaign, holding the star-studded Brazilian squad to a 1-1 draw in their curtain raiser at the World Cup.
Things did not go quite according to Vladimir Petkovic’s plans when Philippe Coutinho broke Swiss defense down early in the game.
Nevertheless, Die Schweizer Nati showed a fabulous mental strength to come back from such deficit and prevent Selecao from creating more chances later on.
Valor Behrami did a magnificent job on holding Neymar throughout 70 minutes he spent on the pitch, while centre-back Manuel Akanji impressed in his only 11th appearance for the national side.
The equalizer came from Steven Zuber who made 14th cap for Switzerland replacing the injured Admir Mehmedi in the starting line-up.
Vladimir Petkovic and his men will have another super tough test in the likes of fellow European hopefuls Serbia.
The outfit from Balkans managed to find the way to edge past Costa Rica thanks to Roma’s Aleksandar Kolarov who scored an amazing free-kick-goal early in the second half.
Overall, the team led by Mladen Krstajic offered an encouraging performance as most of their stars did well on the pitch.
Counting the victory over Bolivia in the final warm-up before the trip to Russia, it is two wins on the trot for the Eagles who are looking to capitalize on the victorious start here.
Serbia Team News
Mladen Krstajic sent the best XI he has on disposal on the pitch against Costa Rica and we do not expect changes for the clash with Switzerland.
This means Sergej Milinjovic-Savic will start as the attacking midfielder with the Premier League duo Luka Milivojevic and Nemanja Matic behind him as defensive midfielders.
Dusan Tadic and Adem Ljajic will play on the flanks, while Aleksandar Mitrovic will be the line striker once again.
Serbia Predicted Starting Eleven (4-2-3-1)
Stojkovic – Ivanovic, Milenkovic, Tosic, Kolarov – Milivojevic, Matic – Tadic, Milinkovic-Savic, Ljajic – Mitrovic.
Switzerland Team News
Petkovic does not have the need to change anything in the side that held Brazil to a 1-1 draw on Sunday.
Valon Behrami became the first Swiss player to make an appearance at four separate World Cups and he was one of the key figures in stopping Neymar on the day.
The defensive line with Schar and Akanji as centre-back looked rock-solid.
Haris Seferovic will likely get the chance over Breel Embolo and Mario Gavranovic up front once again.
Switzerland Predicted Starting Eleven (4-2-3-1)
Sommer – Lichtsteiner, Schar, Akanji, Rodriguez – Behrami, Xhaka – Shaqiri, Dzemaili, Zuber – Seferovic.
Serbia Switzerland Head-to-head
This will be the first ever head to head encounter between Serbia and Switzerland.
Serbia vs Switzerland Prediction
There is no favourite in such contest which could likely be decided by a single moment of inspiration from any of teams’ stars.
Serbia definitely have a wider range of such in their ranks, but Switzerland look to be organized much better overall.
In all, we are definitely in for a huge battle at the centre of the park and we doubt such highly-important contest could bring a host of goal-scoring chances in front of any goal.
Massive tension will be present both in the stands and on the pitch as Switzerland’s main figures (Shaqiri, Xhaka, Dzemaili and Behrami) bring Kosovar origins and they announced to put on an extra-effort in the clash with Serbia.
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