Euro 2024: Serbia seeking maiden win as Slovenia clash looms.
As Slovenia seeks their first-ever UEFA European Championship victory and Serbia aims to bounce back from a narrow defeat to England, both teams prepare for a high-stakes showdown at Allianz Arena, where past encounters suggest another tightly contested affair.
Slovenia
Slovenia began their Euro 2024 campaign with a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Denmark. Matjaž Kek’s side came from behind to earn a well-deserved point after Erik Janža’s deflected strike in the second half canceled out Christian Eriksen’s opener.
In a post-match interview, Matjaž Kek stated, "The two halves were very different, and I think the result is fair. We showed them too much respect in the first half, and then we managed to break free from that in the second period, and our game looked a lot better."
With their Match Day 1 draw, Slovenia sits third in Group A, tied on points with Denmark. They are preparing to take on Serbia in a Matchday 2 encounter, which will be their eighth meeting in all competitions, with six of those meetings ending in draws.
Having played more matches than any other nation without a win, drawing three and losing one of their four games, Slovenia will be eager to secure their first win at the UEFA European Championship against Serbia. A 4-4-2 formation with Benjamin Šeško and Andraž Šporar in attack is expected.
Serbia
Serbia [LWLWL] come into this game following a narrow 1-0 defeat to England, leaving them at the bottom of Group A with a -1 goal difference. A Jude Bellingham header in the 13th minute ensured the Eagles took nothing from the encounter, despite a spirited second-half fightback prompted by key substitutions.
"To have the English defending, I’m very proud of how the players reacted," Serbia head coach Dragan Stojković told reporters. "We haven’t deserved to be defeated, but it is what it is. We keep going on," he added.
Serbia will be playing their second European Championship game as an independent nation, having previously won the competition twice as Yugoslavia [1960 & 1968]. On Thursday, they will aim to secure all three points against Slovenia to revive their hopes of progressing to the next round.
They could draw inspiration from their recent victory over Slovenia, where they recorded a commanding 4-1 win in the first leg of the UEFA Nations League group stage in June 2022, followed by a 2-2 draw in the return leg. "They have some great individual players, a very compact team, and they are really dangerous on the break," Milenković said ahead of the clash.
Stojković will likely stick with the 3-4-2-1 formation used against England, with Aleksandar Mitrović and Dušan Vlahović leading the attack, both coming close to scoring in the last match.
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