Serbia vs Saudi Arabia – News and Probable Lineups

Sérvia is set to host Arábia Saudita at the TSC Arena in Backa Topola for an international friendly match on Tuesday.

Both teams will be eager to recover from their significant defeats in their initial outings of the March international window.

Match overview

Having participated in four of the last five World Cup tournaments, Sérvia will have to wait another four years for a chance to return to the world stage.

This follows their disappointing qualifying campaign last year, where they ended third in Group K after securing four wins, one draw, and three losses across eight matches.

With 13 points, they were 11 points off the top position held by Inglaterra and just one point ahead of Albânia, which moved on to the playoff stage.

Veljko Paunovic had minimal accountability for the team’s qualification struggles, having taken charge before the final two matches, which yielded a 2-0 loss to Inglaterra and a 2-1 victory over Letônia.

Starting their 2026 campaign, Sérvia faced a daunting 3-0 loss to European champions Espanha at the Estadio de la Cerámica—following Paunovic’s Real Oviedo side’s 2-0 defeat at the same venue six months prior.

The 48-year-old, dismissed by Oviedo last October, will lead his national team against Arábia Saudita for the first time, aiming for consecutive victories on home turf.

In contrast to their rivals, Arábia Saudita will participate as one of the 48 teams in the 2026 World Cup taking place in Canadá, México, and the USA.

Having progressed through the second round of qualifiers, Arábia Saudita narrowly missed automatic entry in the third stage, finishing behind Japão and Austrália with 13 points from 10 games.

Consequently, they participated in a mini round-robin tournament in October, where they secured a victory over Indonésia and drew against Iraque, edging the latter for top position based on goals scored.

Finishing at the summit confirmed Arábia Saudita’s third successive World Cup appearance, where they are set to confront two-time champions Uruguai, 2010 winners Espanha, and newcomers Cape Verde.

Despite the challenges posed by their group, the Green Falcons will journey to North America with aspirations of progressing to the knockout stages for the first time since 1994.

Nonetheless, they will need to avoid performances resembling Friday’s dismal 4-0 loss to Egito to meet that goal.

Team News

Paunovic may make several alterations to his Sérvia lineup in an effort to distribute playtime evenly across the two March friendlies.

Players like Predrag Rajkovic, Strahinja Erakovic, Stefan Bukinac, and Kosta Nedeljkovic could be in contention to start the upcoming match.

Additionally, Fulham’s Sasa Lukic, Atalanta’s Lazar Samardzic, and AEK Athens’ Luka Jovic might also secure starting positions.

For the visitors, Moteb Al-Harbi is unavailable due to injury, while Ali Lajami and Hassan Kadesh have been excluded from the traveling squad to Sérvia.

Renard has chosen to call up goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais following a heavy defeat to Egito on Friday.

Rayan Hamed, Muteb Al-Mufarrij, Naif Masoud, Marwan Al-Sahafi, and Abdullah Al-Hamdan are all potential candidates for inclusion in Renard’s plans for Tuesday.

Sérvia probable starting XI:

Rajkovic; Nedeljkovic, Milenkovic, Erakovic, Bukinac; Gudelj, Lukic; Birmancevic, Samardzic, Kostic; Jovic

Saudi Arabia probable starting XI:

Al-Aqidi; Abdulhamid, Hamed, Al-Amri, Al-Mufarrij; Kanno, Masoud; Al-Faraj, Al-Hamdan, Al-Sahafi; Al-Buraikan

Despite both teams experiencing significant losses on Friday, it is worth noting that Sérvia’s defeat was against a considerably stronger opponent, and we anticipate they will rebound from their disappointing result against Espanha to secure a victory in their home match on Tuesday.