Torino forward Adem Ljajic has been brought back into the national team forward of Serbia for the upcoming match with Ireland.
Serbia have been able to establish a sizeable advantage in the group D, as they have been top of the table ahead of the Republic of Ireland. Even though there is no points advantage for Slavoljub Muslin’s team, the goal difference over Ireland is a major positive going into the business end of the World Cup qualification process. Serbia only have to contend with four matches in order to reach the finals of the World Cup. The national team will regard this to be a major success.
Among the biggest challenges for Serbia would be Ireland, who are one of the opponents in the qualifying games in September. Muslin has decided to bring in a strong set up in order to overcome Ireland, and one of the names to feature in the squad is Torino forwardLjajic. The 25-year-old was a surprise omission from the squad despite being one of the quality options available for the manager.
Last season, he managed to come up with 10 goals and eight assists for the Torino team. He was able to achieve these figures in just 33 league outings. As a result, he has been able to almost match one of his best seasons till date – with Fiorentina back in 2012/13 when he came up with 11 goals and eight assists.
“This group may go to the last games in October but these two matches are very important. The players have played well enough to get into a good position and they are capable of keeping first place by getting six points from this double-header,” said Muslin ahead of the game. Moldova are the other opponent in the qualifying games for September. Serbia are up against Austria and Georgia in October.