Armenia - Serbia: Serbs keen to put World Cup qualification failure behind them

Serbia play their second qualifier of the Euro 2016 campaign away to Armenia and Dick Advocaat's promising side are eager to move on from their failure to qualify for this summer's World Cup.

Armenia - Serbia: Serbs keen to put World Cup qualification failure behind them
Image credit: FFA.am
cian-woulfe
By Cian Woulfe

The Serbs, led by Chelsea's brute defender Branislav Ivanovic, were in the World Cup qualifying group won by Belgium and were pipped to second spot by Croatia, with just a measly three points the difference between the two nations.

Armenia were in Italy's group and attained a respectable 13 points, though still finished second-bottom, only ahead of Malta.

On Saturday, they both play each other in the final qualifying group. Armenia have already begun their qualification, with an unfortunate 2-1 defeat at the hands of Denmark, while Serbia are yet to play a game. The other teams in their group include Albania and Portugal, who suffered a shock defeat to Albania in the first game.

Armenia only really have one player whose name jumps off the page and that is classy Borussia Dortmund midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, though unfortunately for Bernard Challandes, the Armenian coach, their star player is out through injury, in what could prove to be an almost fatal blow to their chances of victory. The question now is, do the rest of the Armenian team possess the quality to cope? It's hard to see where any of their goals would come from against such a strong defence.

Serbia, alternatively, have a huge amount of quality in their side, with plenty of famous names. Even after the retirement of former captain Nemanja Vidic, the power of Ivanovic, Matija Nastasic and Aleksandar Kolarov should prove strong enough to deal with the Armenian attack.

That is, of course, suggesting that the Armenians have gotten past Chelsea midfield rock Nemanja Matic. Advocaat's side aren't bottom-heay though and can flourish going forward, with the likes of Lazar Markovic, Dusan Tadic and Zdravko Kuzmanovic all being able to hurt defences.

As well as the Mkhitaryan injury, Armenia are also without Spartak Moscow winger Araz Ozbiliz and fellow Spartak striker Yura Movsisyan. Serbia meanwhile, are missing no-nonsense Borussia Dortmund defender Neven Subotic, which means that Matija Nastasic will likely start alongside Branislav Ivanovic in the centre of defence. The Serbs are also without highly-rated young Roma midfielder Adam Ljajic.

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About the author
Cian Woulfe
I am a keen enthusiast in both English and Dutch football, with Chelsea and Vitesse Arnhem the object of my desires. I also have a real soft spot for Rafael Nadal.