Defender Milos Veljkovic from Werder Bremen made it into the squad for the Serbian national team for the World Cup in Qatar despite an Achilles tendon injury.
National coach Dragan Stojkovic called up the 27-year-old centre-back to his 26-man squad – just two hours after his German club announced Veljkovic’s absence for the last Bundesliga game of the year against RB Leipzig.
Performance gap between offensive and defensive
The Serbs have a big gap in performance between offense and defense. In attack and midfield, Stojkovic can build on top international players such as ex-Frankfurt player Filip Kostic, Dusan Vlahovic (both Juventus Turin) and captain Dusan Tadic (Ajax Amsterdam).
In defense, the selection is comparatively thin. There Veljkovic competes with players like Nikola Milenkovic (Fiorentina) or Strahinja Pavlovic (RB Salzburg) for a regular place. Erhan Masovic from VfL Bochum was not nominated for the World Cup. The Serbs meet Brazil, Cameroon and Switzerland in the preliminary round group G in Qatar.