Montenegro and Serbia’s historic meeting, unhappy memories for England and the Republic of Ireland, and Georgi Petkov’s international return – at 42Twelve years after Montenegro achieved independence and 11 years after they were formally recognised by Fifa, they meet Serbia for the first time. The match is, according to goalkeeper Danijel Petkovic, the biggest in the nation’s history. After two games the teams are level on points at the top of Group C4, adding competitive edge to an already spicy encounter. Serbia are far from full strength: Crystal Palace’s Luka Milivojevic is one of several players to have dropped out of the squad since the World Cup after falling out with the manager, Mladen Krstajic, while the captain, Nemanja Matic,...
Spartak Trnava’s workaholic coach discusses fleeing Serbia as a child, being compared to Pep Guardiola and learning his craft in West Sussex’s amateur leaguesAfter his Spartak Trnava side beat Slovan Bratislava 1-0 in a game that may very well have decided the destination of Slovakia’s league championship three weeks ago, Spartak’s 35-year-old British coach climbed on top of his dugout and celebrated wildly with the fans.With five games left until the end of the season and a healthy lead at the top of the table, Spartak Trnava are close to their first league title since 1973, back when Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia. The curiously named Nestor El Maestro – and we will come to that name later – has...
Patience pays off again for Gareth Southgate and co as Marcus Rashford, initially pinned to the right flank, eventually inspires victory amid banks of empty seatsPatience, they had all chorused. From Gareth Southgate to Jordan Henderson to Harry Kane. They were talking about the realisation of a long-term plan, of course, but the same virtue had been required in both qualifiers over this window. It has taken England time to find their feet in each fixture, exploiting Maltese fatigue last Friday and, eventually, striking up a proper rhythm against Slovakia once the initial approach had been tweaked. Marcus Rashford was instrumental in inspiring this win, looking every bit a player at home at this level, though there was some positivity...