Many think so, all that remains is to wait: Serbia will be the surprise, actually announced, of these World Cups that are about to begin.
There is too much talent, and also effectiveness in front of goal, to be able to fail this time, and if coach Dragan Stojkovic, the former Pixie 'director' of Verona, crosses his fingers it is only for superstition.
The group stage of the World Cup since Serbia is no longer Yugoslavia has always been an insurmountable obstacle, but this time, they guarantee Belgrade, despite the presence of Brazil, Switzerland and Cameroon it will not be like this.
Confidence also comes from the fact that this national team dominated group A of the European qualifiers at Qatar 2022 undefeated, even beating Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal, thanks to a squad full of football class.
Thus, as Stojkovic said,
Serbia wants to lead the way by becoming "the loose cannon of the World Cup".
He can succeed because since this coach, who was also president of his football federation in the past, took charge of Serbia, in February 2021 after Tumbaković was sacked, he has done an excellent job of re-founding the national team with the constant inclusion and no longer sporadic, of players who are the result of one of the best generations of local talent, and with enormous offensive potential which, if well harmonised, is able to offer great moments of spectacular football.
An example of all this is Sergej Milinkovic-Savic from Lazio, whom the previous coach had repeatedly ignored and who now, however, with his overwhelming strength combined with talent, has become a driving force behind his national team, which now also includes the goalkeeper brother Vanja, from Turin.
Witnessing Serbia's effectiveness is also the fact that, in a report on the most interesting players to follow at the World Cup, Fifa has selected five of the players available to 'Pixie': in addition to S. Milinković-Savic, Dusan Tadić (Ajax), Dusan Vlahović (Juventus), striker Aleksandar Mitrović (Fulham) and Filip Kostic (Juventus).
Of Milinkovic-Savic, the international body of football underlines that "he is a factor who can split matches. He has a physique like a center forward (he is 1.90 tall) and feet like a number 10.
who four years ago in Russia beat the Serbs in a comeback, unleashing a series of sporting and political tensions due to the exultation with the eagle of the footballers of Kosovar origin among the Swiss ranks, Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhakai.
It was 22 June 2018: the two national teams no longer faced each other and will return to do so directly in Qatar: it will certainly be a 'hot' match.