GERMANY: Dusan Vlahovic, Serbia's center-forward, believes his team can emulate Iceland's recent triumph at Wembley to surprise England on Sunday. The upcoming match in Gelsenkirchen marks Serbia's first appearance in a European Championship in its current format, and Vlahovic is optimistic about their prospects despite low expectations back home.
“No one is invincible,” Vlahovic said. “We looked at the match against Iceland and there are things that can be copied from them, because they beat them at Wembley in front of 80,000 people. Everything is possible. They are the favourites, maybe the biggest in the tournament, but we believe in ourselves and we are going step by step to present ourselves in the best light.”
There is little expectation among the Serbian public that Dragan Stojkovic’s side can mount a challenge this summer, even if they look an appealing prospect on paper. The sense is that a gifted squad blew its chance at Qatar 2022, finishing bottom of their group after failing to find a balance between attack and defence. That remains a problem but Vlahovic believes a relative lack of pressure can be turned to their advantage.
“It’s certainly different from Qatar,” he said. “It’s easier for us that there is not so much euphoria. Sometimes a bit of unreality comes out of the euphoria, [like] when we qualified and everyone thought we were going to the semi-finals in Qatar. This way we have a calmer environment and can prepare more serenely for the upcoming matches. We are here to compete and get a result.”
Vlahovic scored 16 goals for Juventus in Serie A last season but plays second fiddle for Serbia behind Aleksandar Mitrovic, who has taken to life at Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League with ease. Should he start alongside Mitrovic against England he may face comparisons with Harry Kane, who is six and a half years his senior but shares some stylistic traits.
“He scored 44 goals this year and has scored over 300 goals in his career,” Vlahovic said, showing impressive command of Kane’s record. “He is, at the moment, if not the best striker in the world then one of the best. So I don’t want to put pressure on myself and don’t want to compare myself with players like this, because he has played at this level for around 10 years and is one of the best ever.
“Of course it will be a chance for me because I play with no pressure: everybody is expecting England to win the Euros so it is a good opportunity. But I don’t want to compare with strikers like him.”