Preparations for the candidates who will be preparing to participate in the World Cup qualification tournament in the Greek city of Alexandroupoli (April 6 – 12) will begin tonight at 6 pm at Banjica.
As a reminder, the original list included: Vladimir Misovic (Red Star), Milan Glusac (Novi Beograd), Radosav Virijevic (Valis), Mihailo Gosic (Sava), Mateja Kosanovic (Kosutnjak), Nikola Murisic (Radnicki), Djordje Lazic (Jadran HN), Strahinja Krstic (UKLA), Vuk Chonkic (Partizan), Nikola Jaksic (Radnicki), Petar Jaksic (Radnicki), Dusan Trtovic (Novi Beograd), Luka Pljevancic (Novi Beograd), Novak Lazic (Šabac), Petar Micanovic (Šabac), Nikola Lukic (Novi Beograd), Vasilije Martinovic (Novi Beograd), Rodoljub Gajic (Red Star), Vuk Kojic (Valis), Miljan Djokanovic (Partizan), Dusan Mandic (Ferencvaros), Nemanja Stanojevic (Šabac), Vuk Milojevic (Novi Beograd), Viktor Urošević (Novi Beograd), Marko Dimitrijević (Novi Beograd), Relja Danković (Red Star), Luka Gladović (Novi Beograd), Filip Novaković (Šabac) and Luigi Canepa (Partizan). Bogdan Gavrilović (Šabac) was also invited later.
Meanwhile, Dušan Mandić is injured, he will be on a break and will not be at the preparations. Some of the candidates will train at Banjica, while the team will be completed in Kragujevac from the evening of April 2nd.
The coaching staff includes: Uroš Stevanović (federal coach), Miloš Ćirić, Stefan Ćirić, Darko Bilić, Nemanja Ličanin, Miloš Ostojić (coaches), Dr. Nikola Repac (doctor) and Vladimir Radović (physiotherapist).
Serbia will spar in the preparations with the Netherlands and Russia, which is returning to the international scene after several years. The Netherlands, along with Greece and Hungary, are Serbia’s opponents in the “A” group of the qualifications, while in “B” group are: Italy, the USA, Spain and Croatia.
The system has been changed, so after three matches in the groups, two new groups will be formed. The first will contain the two best-placed teams from the first part of the qualifiers and they are guaranteed participants in the final part. The second group will contain the third and fourth from both qualifying groups and only the winner will participate in the event in Sydney.
