Serbia coach Dragan Stojkovic dismissed rumors that Brazil spied on his training sessions using a drone, saying on Wednesday that the South American superpower would gain nothing from filming his training sessions.
Brazil and Serbia have been training at Al Arabi’s facilities in Doha, with the teams’ bases situated on both sides of the road.
“I can’t believe they watched us. Who are we for them to watch us? They are a football superpower,” Stojkovic said ahead of the Group G opener at Lusail Stadium on Thursday.
“I think it’s disinformation. And even if it was a drone, I don’t know what they would have seen, nothing special”, he joked.
World Cup favorites Brazil have an array of attacking talent at their disposal, but Stojkovic said he would not shy away from the challenge of facing the five-time champions.
Brazil coach Tite has expanded his squad with nine forwards led by Neymar, who could overtake Pele as the country’s all-time top goalscorer if he scores three more goals to add to his tally of 75.
“Will four forwards play against Serbia? So we’re done… But will anyone play defense?” Stojkovic said.
“Brazil is a great team, one of the best in the world. For me, they have a golden generation right now and I expect a very difficult game… The game starts at 0-0, we have chances to win and we are not afraid. nobody, not even Brazil. We have more mature, confident players with the experience of having played in a World Cup. It’s a new challenge.”
However, he added that they were “very unlucky” to be drawn in the same group as Brazil, Switzerland and Cameroon.
“Brazil are a great team, individually and collectively. They are definitely one of the favourites,” said captain Dusan Tadic.
“But we’re focused on ourselves, we’re going to look at Brazil’s qualities, but we’re also going to focus on our qualities, we want to make our country proud and play our style of football.”
Serbia have been sweating over the availability of top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic after he suffered an ankle injury but Stojkovic, who declined to reveal his line-up, said the striker was training with the team.
“The good news is he’s not in pain where he had an injury,” he said.
“But (Filip) Kostic is injured, he feels muscle fatigue. It’s a big question mark when it comes to him.”
As a seasoned news journalist, I bring a wealth of experience to the field. I’ve worked with world-renowned news organizations, honing my skills as a writer and reporter. Currently, I write for the sports section at News Bulletin 247, where I bring a unique perspective to every story.
