Prediction: Germany vs Serbia

Verdict: Germany win.

Best odds: 42/100.

Bookmaker: William Hill

Germany and Serbia will get the final preparations for the start of Euro 2020 qualifiers out of the way when they meet at the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg on Wednesday. Germany then travels to Netherlands for their group C opener on Sunday, while the Serbs go to play Portugal in group B on Monday.

Germany

Die Mannschaft’s attempt at defending the World Champion’s title at last year’s World Cup failed miserably, and they are sure to give their all to prove they are still a force.

They’ve had a few controversial moments since their adventures in Russia came to a premature end. Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil quickly announced his retirement from international football having been the target of much criticism for his performances, and he even went as far as naming racism within the camp as one of his reasons.

Manager Joachim Loew also sparked a sharp debate in the football world with his decision to leave the likes of Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels out of his future selections.

Team News

Both coaches will want to give their preferred team a run-out before the competitive fixtures start, but with international games it’s never easy to guess what that will look like; at least before a few games are out of the way. Even without the trio of Ozil, Boateng and Hummels, Germany is a very formidable team. For the upcoming two games, Loew selected the following players:

Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer, Kevin Trapp and Marc-Andre ter Stegen;
Defenders: Thilo Kehrer, Marcel Halstenberg, Matthias Ginter, Jonathan Tah, Lukas Klostermann, Nico Schulz, Niklas Sule, Antonio Rudiger and Niklas Stark;
Midfielders: Josuha Kimmich, Toni Kroos, Leon Goretzka, Ilkay Gundogan;
Forwards: Timo Werner, Julian Brandt, Marco Reus, Leroy Sane, Serge Gnabry, and Kai Havertz.

Serbia

Serbia also had a few moments at the World Cup that they would like to forget, most notably the defeat at hands of Switzerland which saw Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri celebrate their goals with politically motivated Kosovo-related gestures, and while the pressure of expectation doesn’t weigh nearly as much on their shoulders as it does on the shoulders of the Germans, they will be keen to get off to a good start in these qualifications. This warm-up game is therefore equally important for them.

Team News

Even though they haven’t had any international success in recent times, Serbia boasts some very familiar and well-respected names in their team. Coach Malden Krstajić chose the following:

Goalkeepers: Marko Dmitrović, Predrag Rajković, Nikola Vasiljević;
Defenders: Antonio Rukavina, Nemanja Miletić, Uroš Spajić, Nikola Milenković, Miloš Veljković, Stefan Mitrović, Aleksandar Kolarov, Miroslav Bogosavac;
Midfielders: Nemanja Matić, Ljubomir Fejsa, Nemanja Maksimović, Saša Lukić, Sergej Milinković-Savić, Branko Jovičić;
Forwards: Dušan Tadić, Filip Kostić, Adem Ljajić, Andrija Živković, Darko Lazović, Mijat Gaćinović, Nemanja Radonjić, Aleksandar Mitrović, Aleksandar Prijović, Luka Jović.

Conclusion

With all due respect to Serbia, this is a kind of game Germany should be winning really, if they have any aspirations of climbing back to the top of world football, where they were not so long ago. It being non-competitive and close to a competitive one may influence their approach, but the same goes for Serbia.

Verdict: Germany win.

Best odds: 42/100.

Bookmaker: William Hill