Serbia and Lithuania will kick off their Euro 2024 qualifying campaigns on Friday in Belgrade at the Stadio Rajko Mitic. Group G should be an exciting group with any of the five teams capable of finishing in the top two.
Group G also contains Montenegro, Hungary, and Bulgaria. The Serbians and Hungarian teams will be seen as the two teams most likely to fight for the top spot. However, Montenegro cannot be ruled out of finishing in the top two places before the tournament starts.
🇷🇸🦅 Орлови су спремни за старт у квалификацијама за @EURO2024! 🔥😍 pic.twitter.com/KkGlNwBY7J— Fudbalski savez Srbije | FA of Serbia (@FSSrbije) March 23, 2023
🇷🇸🦅 Орлови су спремни за старт у квалификацијама за @EURO2024! 🔥😍 pic.twitter.com/KkGlNwBY7J
Serbia will restart after a poor 2022 FIFA World Cup campaign. The Serbians failed to win a match at the tournament and were dumped out in the group stage.
Dragan Stojković will have many of the same players that featured just a few months ago. Serbia have already played one friendly in 2023, as they defeated the United States 2-1 in Los Angeles in January. However, the side lacked the top players competing in leagues around Europe.
Lithuania are ranked No 144 in the world ahead of the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign. They are one of the minnows of European football.
However, with the group looking rather evenly matched in some areas, Lithuania may fancy their chances.
Serbia and Lithuania have met six times since 2008. The Serbians lead the head-to-head series against Lithuania with five wins and one defeat.
The teams last met in 2019 during Euro qualifying for the 2020 tournament. Serbia won the fixture 2-1.
Lithuania are not in good form ahead of the match with Serbia in Belgrade. They failed to win their last nine games in all competitions. Seven of those nine games ended in defeats.
The Lithuania squad is low on talent. Most players in the team play domestically or in other Eastern European leagues. Compared to Serbia, Lithuania cannot call upon players competing in Portugal, England, Spain, or the Netherlands.
Striker Fedor Černych will likely start in attack for Lithuania. The 31-year-old plays in Cyprus for AEL Limassol and has 12 international goals.
Stojković can call on several star players for Serbia. Aleksandar Mitrovic may be suspended for club team Fulham, but he will likely start in attack for Serbia on Friday. Mitrovic has 52 international goals. Serbia’s manager can also call upon Sergej Milinković-Savić, Dusan Tadic, and Dusan Vlahovic.
Serbia should get their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign up and running with a win on Friday night. Lithuania do not have the quality to stop Serbia’s strong attack. The Serbians should ease to victory with a 4-1 win. Mitrovic could power the Serbians to the win.