Why you should watch every team at the 2018 World Cup

Serbia

Soccer in Serbia has a long, illustrious history, going back to the 1929 beginning of Yugoslavia and the nascent country’s third-place finish at the inaugural 1930 World Cup. Present day Serbia is considered the direct successor of both Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro by UEFA and FIFA.

Yugoslavia, after a fourth-place finish at the 1962 World Cup in Chile and a fifth-place showing at the 1990 World Cup, split in 1991, with Serbia and Montenegro forming as an independent country. The promising group that had so much success in the 1990 World Cup was mostly wasted in the international game, as they were banned from the 1994 competition.

Serbia became their own team after the 2006 World Cup (in which Serbia and Montenegro lost all three games and finished 32nd overall) and managed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. That tournament, although it saw them eliminated early, featured the highlight of their young soccer history: a 1-0 win against Germany in the group stage. Miroslav Klose was shown a second yellow in the first half and Milan Jovanovic scored the eventual winner in the 38th-minute. Goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic saved a Lukas Podolski penalty en route to a career-defining victory.

They failed to qualify in 2014, but after winning a group over Wales and Ireland, Serbia will head to Russia facing what is arguably the group of death. Brazil, Costa Rica and Switzerland join them in a difficult Group E. With Branislav Ivanovic and Nemanja Matic still leading the squad, Serbia will hope to pull an upset.