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June 18 2024, 20:20 · Alex Lawes

Slovenia vs Serbia Preview & Prediction | UEFA EURO 2024 | Group Stage

Slovenia vs Serbia Preview & Prediction | UEFA EURO 2024 | Group Stage
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There is huge significance on this Group C clash as Slovenia took a point from their opener against Denmark and will know a victory could more or less secure Round of 16 qualification, whilst Serbia will be under some pressure after their loss to England on Sunday.

KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Thursday 20th June, 2024 - UK – 2:00pm / US EST – 9:00am / US PST – 7:00am

HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – ITV / US – FOX

HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – ITVX / US – VIX

SLOVENIA PREVIEW: THE CHANCE TO MAKE HISTORY

Slovenia began their tournament with a relatively impressive performance and more than respectable point against UEFA EURO 2020 semi-finalists Denmark at the weekend. After falling behind early on to a Christian Eriksen strike, Slovenia struck back late on via Erik Janza to mean they are in a good position ahead of their final two matches.

The Slovenians, in what is a functional but still flexible 4-4-2 system, are reliant on the excellence of Jan Oblak in goal with in-form Benjamin Sesko up-front but they will hope to add Sandi Lovric back to their substitutes bench in order to provide some more creative quality off the bench alongside Josip Ilicic.

SERBIA PREVIEW: STOJKOVIC UNDER PRESSURE IN SERBIA

Dragan Stojkovic is under pressure back in Serbia, mainly from current football association presidential candidate Nemanja Vidic. The Serbians have an abundance of talent and quality but there has been a continued underperformance, despite qualifying for tournaments on a regular basis.

In their opening game of the tournament, they were under major pressure in the opening half an hour against pre-tournament favourites England but steadied themselves at 1-0 down and were by far the better side in the opening stages of the second-half before Stojkovic’s bizarre decision to replace Aleksandar Mitrovic.

SLOVENIA TEAM NEWS: LOVRIC STILL A DOUBT

Matjaz Kek had to deal with Udinese attacking midfielder Sandi Lovric being unavailable for their opening game but the Slovenians made do and adjusted well without him. He remains a doubt for this one and it is unlikely they will make any changes.

PREDICTED XI (4-4-2): Oblak; Karnicik, Drkusic, Bijol, Janza; Stojanovic, Elsnik, Gnezda Cerin, Mlakar; Sporar, Sesko

UNAVAILABLE:

QUESTIONABLE: Lovric (Injured)

SERBIA TEAM NEWS: TADIC OR NOT TADIC

Dusan Tadic was brought on to the pitch in the 56th minute against England but it feels as though that will be a specific game plan for games against leading nations and when they face the likes of Slovenia and Denmark they will revert back to having their captain in the hole behind Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic.

PREDICTED XI (3-4-1-2): Rajkovic; Veljkovic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic; Zivkovic, S. Milinkovic-Savic, Gudelj, Mladenovic; Tadic; Mitrovic, Vlahovic

UNAVAILABLE:

QUESTIONABLE: Kostic (Injured)

KEY STATS

  • Slovenia and Serbia have one victory each and six draws in their previous eight meetings. Their only previous final tournament encounter was a 3-3 draw in the group stage at EURO 2000 when Serbia (then Yugoslavia) recovered from a 3-0 deficit to claim a point.
  • Slovenia have drawn three and lost one of their previous four EURO matches.
  • Slovenia have lost only two of their last 15 competitive matches (W8 D5).
  • A 2-1 away defeat against Denmark in EURO qualifying in November 2023 is Slovenia’s only defeat in their last 13 matches (W8 D4).
  • Slovenia have only failed to score in one of their last 21 international matches.
  • Serbia have won only one of their last 12 EURO matches (D2 L9).
  • Serbia’s coach Dragan Stojković played in Serbia/Yugoslavia’s 3-3 draw against Slovenia at EURO 2000.
  • Serbia have kept only two clean sheets in their previous 15 EURO matches.
  • Aleksandar Mitrović has scored in Serbia’s last two matches against Slovenia.
  • None of Serbia’s previous 15 EURO matches have finished without a goal being scored.
  • An appearance for Nemanja Maksimović would be his 50th for Serbia.

SLOVENIA VS SERBIA PREDICTION

This has the potential to be a decisive game in terms of moving through to the knockout stages. Slovenia will be direct and alert against the Serbians this week, looking to exploit defensive weaknesses that were exposed, particularly on the left-hand side, for spells against England. That said, Serbia’s attacking talent will surely be enough to see them at least get on the scoresheet in this one and it could be an unexpectedly fun game for the early kick off on Thursday.

SLOVENIA VS SERBIA TIP: BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE