After a painful 24-year absence, Serbia have finally made it again to the European Championship. Officially, this will be Serbia’s first Euro participation but, given that back at Euro 2000 the squad of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – as a matter of fact, Serbia and Montenegro – was made up of 90 per cent Serbian players, Serbia’s appearance in Germany this summer should be considered a comeback rather than a debut.
However, instead of celebrating the successful qualification and looking forward to being part of this football festival, Serbian fans and media are rather pessimistic regarding the team’s chances after a series of disappointing performances and results in qualifying.
Even national team coach Dragan Stojkovic, nicknamed in his homeland, admitted that he was not pleased with the performances in the qualifiers. Many fans were left wondering if Serbia would even have made it had they been drawn in a tougher qualifying group.
