Portugal vs Serbia Prediction - Time For Portugal To Pull Rank

Next Sunday, 29th of March 2015, a rejuvenated Portugal will measure forces with a disheartened Serbia at Estádio Luz in Lisbon for the Euro 2016 Qualifiers.

After their miserable World Cup performances last Summer, the Portuguese football federation was expected to do something to shake things up, but in fact they didn’t. Because of their reluctance to change, Portugal was defeated at home on their first Euro 2016 qualifying match against an apparently modest Albania. It is fair to mention that the Balkanic team is now anything but modest but it is also true that Portugal was miles away from their full potential on that particular match. Such sour defeat was the cause behind Paulo Bento’s departure and at the same it opened a new window of opportunity under the helm of the charismatic Portuguese manager, Fernando Santos. The former Greece’s head coach inherited a team lacking confidence but his arrival had quite the special effect on the players, who seem to have found, once again, the joy of playing football.

Under Fernando Santos’ stewardship, Portugal won their respective qualifying matches, the first one against Denmark and the second, one month later, against Armenia. The Portuguese team now seem to be on the right path, but their upcoming clash with Serbia, a traditionally well organized and complicated team, will certainly be a good test for Cristiano Ronaldo and his peers.

As for Serbia, things aren’t very bright. The arrival of the experienced Dutch manager, Dick Advocaat, last July caused some enthusiasm among the supporters, but such joy didn’t last long, as Advocaat was sacked after the team’s painful home defeat against Denmark last November. Both the Dutch manager and the Serbian football federation agreed the termination of his contract after just a handful of months in charge.

Serbia are now trying to turn the page, but things will certainly not be easy for Radovan Curcic (the new team’s manager), since his team has only grabbed one point from the three matches they have already taken part in (Serbia have been awarded a 3-0 victory over Albania following their postponed Euro 2016 qualifier, but three points have also been deducted due to the “riots” that took place and involved players and supporters from both sides).

Given both sides’ current moment of form, it is fair to name Portugal as firm favourites for the upcoming match, although it is possible that the Serbs will try to snatch at least a draw from their trip to Lisbon.

Portugal

Stats: W-3 L-2 D-0

Recent Form - WWWLL

Serbia

Stats: W-2 L-1 D-2

Recent Form - WLWDD

Possible Line-ups

Portugal (4-3-3) - Rui Patricio - Bosingwa - Ricardo Carvalho - Pepe - Fabio Coentrão - Tiago - William Carvalho - Moutinho - Cristiano Ronaldo - Nani - Danny

Serbia (4-2-3-1) – Stojkovic - Tomovic - Ivanovic - Nastasic - Kolarov - Matic - Gudelj - Tosic - Markovic - Ljajic - Mitrovic

Injury List / Suspended Players

Portugal

Beto (inj)

Helder Postiga (inj)

Serbia

none

Head-to-head matches:

Top Players:

Portugal

Cristiano Ronaldo

João Moutinho

Danny

Serbia

Nemanja Matic

Zoran Tosic

Branislav Ivanovic

Predictable Goal Scorers:

Portugal

1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. Nani
3. Danny

Serbia

1. Aleksandar Mitrovic
2. Zoran Tosic
3. Lazar Markovic

Half-Time Score

Portugal 1 Serbia 0

Full-Time Score

Portugal 2 Serbia 1