The final round of The World Preliminary Round of Group A in Europe, Portugal, which could qualify with a draw, was eliminated in the 90th minute and finally lost 1-2 at home to Serbia.
Serbia, which won 6 wins and 2 draws and 20 points, and won the top spot in the group, directly got the ticket to the 2022 World Cup.
Portugal, which has 17 points from 5 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, will participate in the brutal European zone play-offs, when 12 teams will be divided into 3 groups, and in the case of a single-game knockout system, the 3 teams that win both games and become the top team in the group will get the World Cup ticket. In the European Zone play-offs, Portugal will face a life-and-death battle.
In the 2-1 away win over Portugal, Tadic equalised for Serbia before Tadic delivered an assist on the right in the 90th minute and striker Mitrovic scored a header. After scoring, Mitrovic excitedly took off his shirt and ran wildly, and his key goal pushed Serbia from second in the group to the top of the group, locking up the World Cup ticket.
Serbia's head coach, Chinese fans will not be unfamiliar: Stojkovic. Stojkovic, who coached The Chinese Super League team Guangzhou R&F for many years, became the manager of the Serbian national team in March this year, took over the national team for the first time, and finally led the team to suppress Portugal in the World Preliminary Tournament and advanced to the 2022 World Cup.
In the current Serbian squad, there are many familiar names for fans: Thadic, Mitrovic, Vlahovic, Milinkovic, Kostic, Jovic, Goodley, who has been to the Chinese Super League...
Among them, Vlahovic scored 21 goals in Serie A in 2020-21, a blockbuster, scoring 8 goals for Fiorentina after 12 appearances in Serie A in 2021-22, and the 21-year-old striker has been the target of many giants. In this World Preliminary Tournament, Vlahović, who has appeared 8 times, has scored four goals.
The role of Tadic and Mitrovic on the offensive end is even more critical. In this World Preliminary Tournament, Serbia scored a total of 18 goals and conceded 9 goals in 8 games, of which Tadić scored 2 goals and had 6 assists; Mitrovic scored 8 goals, worthy of the nickname given to him by gamers as "Mickey".
Tadic, who currently plays for Ajax, has played well in the Dutch League, including the 2018-19 season, he has won the top scorer and assist king of the Dutch League. In the Serbian national team, Tadić also played a prominent role, wearing the number 10 shirt and he was the captain of the national team.
Mitrovic's eight goals in this World Cup are full of gold:
Serbia narrowly beat Ireland 3-2 at home in the first match, and Mitrovic scored two goals;
Serbia then drew 2-2 at home to Portugal, with Mitrovic scoring one goal;
Serbia then beat Azerbaijan 2-1 away, with Mitrovic scoring 2 goals;
Serbia beat Luxembourg 4-1 at home, with Mitrovic scoring two goals;
In the final round, Serbia defeated Portugal 2-1 away from home, and Mitrovic staged a deadlock.
In the Serbian national team, Mitrovic, who has played 69 times, has scored 44 goals, scoring quite efficiently, and the current 27-year-old has long been the holder of the Serbian national team's goal record. In the top ten of the Serbian national team's all-time top scorer list, only Mitrovic is an active international, and in the next few years, he will firmly occupy the top position in the serbian national team's historical top scorer list.
It is worth mentioning that Mitrovic, who has played for Newcastle and Fulham, has spent four seasons of his player career in the Championship so far: 2016-17, 2017-18, 2019-20, 2021-22 seasons. In the 2019-20 season, Mitrovic won the Championship Golden Boot with 26 goals to help Fulham return to the Premier League.
This season, Mitrovic has once again scored a big fight in the Championship, and after 17 rounds of the 2021-22 Championship, Fulham is temporarily second in the table, and Mitrovic has scored 20 goals, far ahead of the Championship top scorers list this season, of which he has scored hat-tricks twice.
Such a goalscorer, but has been playing in the Championship for 4 seasons, is a bit of a pity.