This Thursday night, and Hungary will face off in Group G, with the two teams currently tied at the top of the table. Both teams are unbeaten in the first round of Euro 2024 qualifiers and will be looking to extend their unbeaten streaks in Belgrade.
Serbia failed to win a single game in the 2022 World Cup and they are trying to redeem the loss and be among the big games again. They drew 1-1 at the home of Bulgaria in their last match, which did not please their supporters. Serbia relied on Lazovic to score in the dying moments of the game to pull off the upset and come away with a draw. However, the goal could prove decisive in the end as Serbia had previously beaten Lithuania and Montenegro 2-0 in qualifying.
Serbia's head coach Stokovic is confident that they have every chance of finishing in the top two, but the outcome of Thursday's match could have a decisive impact.
Although Serbia are favored to win this match, Hungary won 1-0 on their last visit. The match is one of the October 2020 UEFA Nations League matches.
Like Serbia, Hungary had high expectations in the qualifiers. They drew 0-0 at Montenegro's home ground and beat Bulgaria and Lithuania at home, and they now have seven points. They have yet to concede a goal, which pleases their head coach. In their last 13 matches, the Hungarians have only lost twice against Italy, while in the same period they have also beaten and Germany three times.
Rossi has confidence in his team and he thinks they will eventually beat Montenegro and the other contenders to qualify for next year's finals. However, if they lose this game and Montenegro beat Lithuania, they could drop to second or third place in Group G.
The all-time match record between Serbia and Hungary shows that Serbia has won 1 match, while Hungary has only 1 win and 1 match ended in a draw in regular time. They last met on March 24, 2022, with the match ending 0-1.
In terms of team news for this tournament, Aleksandar Mitrovic was unable to play in the last match but he will return to Serbia's starting lineup for this match.Marko Grujic is also expected to play as both Sasa Lukic and Dejan Jovelijc are not on the roster.
The Hungarian head coach will make at least two substitutions as both Endre Botka and Daniel Gazdag are not included in the roster.Adam Lang and Zsolt Kalmar are likely to get a chance in defense and midfield positions as long as the R head coach sticks to a three-back formation. Denes Dibusz should continue in goal despite keeper Peter Gulasci returning from injury.
Our prediction is that although Hungary are on the rise and have kept a clean sheet in their first three games, this is their most difficult game in the group. Serbia are usually strong at home, so we predict they will end this game with a hard-fought home win, 2-0.
