After the 2010 World Cup, Serbia could not qualify for three straight major tournaments. And when they finally secured their ticket to Russia, head coach Slavoljub Muslin was fired and replaced by Mladen Krstajic - who, in his turn, changed the team captain.

Lack of stability

Coaching Serbia is a hot seat - the Eagles have had ten managers for the last ten years. Notably all of them were Serbs, with the exception of the Dutchman Dick Advocaat who had a short spell at the helm of the team in 2014. Yet judging by results, this kind of instability was not of much help.

At least not until Muslin took charge in 2016. The experienced coach helped the players to regain self-belief and pride, and the Eagles had a great qualifying campaign. Despite competing with three EURO 2016 participants - Ireland, Wales and Austria - the Balkan side finished top of the group and secured their berth at the World Cup.

That happened in early October, and just three weeks later, shocking news came from Serbia as Muslin was sacked. Obviously that decision was not due to the results, as the team had reached their goal. However, as it turned out, the coach had some strong disagreements with the national federation, which led to his departure. The situation is not new for Serbian football: Radomir Antic, who guided the team to the 2010 World Cup, also stepped down following some divisions with the country’s football authorities.

Krstajic taking over

But what was wrong with Muslin? First, bosses of the federation criticised his tactics, calling it “defensive”. Well, Serbia prefered the 3-4-3 system, they scored 20 goals in 10 qualifying matches, but, of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion. And second, the football officials were not happy with Slavoljub’s choice of players. They accused the coach of giving too much trust to the old guard and ignoring some younger talents such as Lazio midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. “We parted ways because we didn’t think alike how the team should look in Russia,” Muslin admitted.

So the coach had to resign, and he was replaced by his assistant Mladen Krstajic, a well-known defender in the past who played for Serbia at the 2006 World Cup. While Krstajic has been experimenting and gave a chance to Milinkovic-Savic and a number of other youngsters, he still has to rely on experienced players.

Kolarov is the new captain

One of them is Branislav Ivanovic, the 34-year-old defender who has played more than 100 games for the national team as well as many seasons at Chelsea, and now is at Zenith St.Petersburg. However, several months ago Krstajic took a controversial decision, taking the captaincy away from him and giving it to the 32-year-old Roma defender Aleksandar Kolarov. Many people believe that Ivanovic was stripped of the armband because his game was heavily criticized during the qualifying tournament - indeed, the veteran has lost his speed over the years. Yet his vast experience remains an asset, so Branislav should play an important role for Serbia.

In the midfield, the likes of Dusan Tadic - who often scores important goals - and Nemanja Matic also bring their experience, while up front, the nation’s biggest hope is the 23-year-old Aleksandar Mitrovic. The striker was Serbia’s top scorer in the World Cup qualification with six goals, and has done remarkably well for Fulham during the past season, so opponents should definitely keep an eye on him.

In Russia, Serbia will play in a tough group with Brazil, Switzerland and Costa-Rica. While Brazil are definitely the favourites, three other teams are expected to fight for the second position. The Eagles are quite an unpredictable team, and it is not clear how the recent changes will affect it. But in any case, the Serbian fans are grateful for the team already for qualifying for the competition.

Today, Serbia will play with Costa Rica.