Serbia coach Dragan Stojkovic dismissed rumours of Brazil spying on its coaching classes utilizing a drone, saying on Wednesday the South American superpower would acquire nothing from filming its exercises.
Brazil and Serbia have been coaching on the Al Arabi SC coaching amenities in Doha, with each groups’ bases located on both aspect of the highway.
“I don’t believe they watched us, who are we for them to watch us? They are a football superpower,” Stojkovic stated forward of its Group G opener on the Lusail Stadium on Thursday.
“I think it’s misinformation. And even if it was a drone, I don’t know what they would have seen, nothing special,” he joked.
World Cup favorite Brazil has an array of attacking expertise at its disposal however Stojkovic stated that it could not draw back from the problem of taking over the five-time champion.
Brazil coach Tite has stacked his squad with 9 forwards led by Neymar, who can overtake Pele because the nation’s all-time high scorer if he scores three extra targets so as to add to his tally of 75.
“Will four strikers play against Serbia? Then we are done… But will anyone play in defence?” Stojkovic stated.
“Brazil are a great team, one of the best in the world. For me they have a golden generation at the moment and I expect a very difficult game…The game starts at 0-0, we have a chance to win and we are not afraid of anyone, not even Brazil. We have more mature, confident players with the experience of having played in a World Cup. It’s a new challenge.”
He did, nonetheless, add that they had been “very unlucky” to be drawn in the identical group as Brazil, Switzerland and Cameroon.
“Brazil is a great team, both individually and collectively. They are, for sure, one of the favourites,” skipper Dusan Tadic stated.
“But we are focused on ourselves, we will look at Brazil’s qualities but we will also focus on our qualities, we want to make our country proud and play our style of football.”
Serbia has been sweating on high scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic’s availability after he suffered an ankle damage however Stojkovic, who refused to disclose his lineup, stated the striker was coaching with the squad.
“The good news is that he is not experiencing pain where he had an injury,” he stated.
“But (Filip) Kostic is suffering from an injury, he feels fatigue in the muscle. It is a big question mark when it comes to him.”