Switzerland may have a points advantage over Serbia going into the sides’ group-stage clash, but they would be leaving it to chance in believing a draw is enough to put them through.
A point for the Swiss might well allow Cameroon to sneak into the knockout stages on goal difference by beating already-qualified Brazil on Friday.
As such, both Switzerland and Serbia are likely to be treating their final Group G fixture as a must-win.
Below are the projected lineups for both teams.
Serbia vs Switzerland lineups
Serbia boss Dragan Stojkovic has vowed to go for the jugular when his side face Switzerland with their World Cup hopes hanging by a thread.
Having picked up just a point across their opening two games, nothing less than three points in their final Group G game will do for Serbia.
And Stojkovic accepts that the only way to go about picking up the win his side need is to attack a Swiss side who currently occupy second place in the group.
He said: “It is going to be a difficult match, but we need to decide on our destiny. We will do our best.
“You can’t win if you don’t attack. We intend to play attacking football without forgetting to defend ourselves.
“We know that Switzerland are a very well-organised team and this is a game of patience in which a lot of factors can be decisive, but in order to win you need to attack.”
MORE: Serbia vs Switzerland World Cup time, live stream, TV channel, lineups, odds for FIFA Qatar 2022 clash
Serbia predicted starting 11
Serbia (3-5-1-1, right to left): 23. V. Milinkovic-Savic (GK) — 5. Veljkovic, 4. Milenkovic, 2. Pavlovic — 14. Zivkovic, 16. Lukic, 6. Maksimovic, 20. S. Milinkovic-Savic, 17. Kostic — 10. Tadic — 9. A. Mitrovic
- Injured: none
- Suspended: none
With no fresh injury concerns to consider, Stojkovic has no reason to diverge from the starting XI that faced Cameroon, though he will hope for greater solidity.
MORE: World Cup 2022 standings: Live updated table, points for every group in Qatar
Switzerland predicted starting 11
(4-2-3-1, right to left): 1. Sommer (GK) — 3. Widmer, 5. Akanji, 4. Elvedi 13. Rodriguez — 8. Freuler, 10. Xhaka — 23. Shaqiri, 15. Sow, 17. Vargas — 7. Embolo
- Injured: Noah Okafor
- Suspended: none
Xherdan Shaqiri is fit to return to the starting line-up after remaining on the bench during his country’s narrow defeat to Brazil.
Yann Sommer and Nico Elvedi should also be available despite suffering with colds, though Noah Okafor is a doubt with a muscle issue.
MORE: World Cup 2022 Group G: Match schedule, fixtures, times and dates for Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon in Qatar
Serbia vs Switzerland World Cup squads
Here are the names on Serbia and Switzerland’s World Cup squad lists in Qatar (caps correct as of start of Qatar 2022):
Serbia World Cup squad
| Position | No. | Player | Club | Age | Caps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GK | 1 | Marko Dmitrovic | Sevilla (SPA) | 30 | 19 |
| GK | 23 | Vanja Milinkovic-Savic | Torino (ITA) | 25 | 7 |
| GK | 12 | Predrag Rajkovic | Mallorca (SPA) | 27 | 28 |
| DEF | 11 | Stefan Mitrovic | Getafe (SPA) | 32 | 35 |
| DEF | 2 | Strahinja Pavlovic | RB Salzburg (AUS) | 21 | 22 |
| DEF | 5 | Milos Veljkovic | Werder Bremen (GER) | 27 | 21 |
| DEF | 25 | Filip Mladenovic | Legia Warsaw (POL) | 31 | 20 |
| DEF | 3 | Strahinja Erakovic | Red Star Belgrade (SER) | 21 | 2 |
| DEF | 15 | Srdan Babic | Almeria (SPA) | 26 | 2 |
| DEF | 4 | Nikola Milenkovic | Fiorentina (ITA) | 25 | 38 |
| MID | 10 | Dusan Tadic | Ajax (NED) | 33 | 91 |
| MID | 17 | Filip Kostic | Juventus (ITA) | 29 | 50 |
| MID | 6 | Nemanja Maksimovic | Getafe (SPA) | 27 | 40 |
| MID | 21 | Filip Duricic | Sampdoria (ITA) | 30 | 37 |
| MID | 16 | Sasa Lukic | Torino (ENG) | 26 | 32 |
| MID | 14 | Andrija Zivkovic | PAOK (GRE) | 26 | 29 |
| MID | 22 | Darko Lazovic | Verona (ITA) | 32 | 26 |
| MID | 20 | Sergej Milinkovic-Savic | Lazio (ITA) | 27 | 36 |
| MID | 8 | Nemandja Gudelj | Sevilla (SPA) | 30 | 49 |
| MID | 26 | Marko Grujic | Porto (POR) | 26 | 18 |
| MID | 19 | Uros Racic | Braga (POR) | 24 | 9 |
| MID | 24 | Ivan Ilic | Verona (ITA) | 21 | 6 |
| FWD | 9 | Aleksandar Mitrovic | Fulham (ENG) | 28 | 76 |
| FWD | 11 | Luka Jovic | Fiorentina (ITA) | 24 | 29 |
| FWD | 18 | Dusan Vlahovic | Juventus (ITA) | 22 | 17 |
| FWD | 7 | Nemanja Radonjic | Marseille (FRA) | 26 | 36 |
Switzerland World Cup squad
| Position | No. | Player | Club | Age | Caps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GK | 1 | Yann Sommer | Borussia Monchengladbach (GER) | 33 | 77 |
| GK | 21 | Gregor Kobel | Borussia Dortmund (GER) | 24 | 3 |
| GK | 24 | Philipp Kohn | RB Salzburg (AUT) | 24 | 0 |
| GK | 12 | Jonas Omlin | Montpellier (FRA) | 24 | 3 |
| DEF | 33 | Fabian Schar | Newcastle (ENG) | 30 | 73 |
| DEF | 5 | Manuel Akanji | Manchester City (ENG) | 27 | 43 |
| DEF | 13 | Ricardo Rodriguez | Torino (ITA) | 30 | 100 |
| DEF | 4 | Nico Elvedi | Borussia Monchengladbach (GER) | 26 | 40 |
| DEF | 3 | Silvan Widmer | Mainz (GER) | 29 | 34 |
| DEF | 18 | Eray Comert | Valencia (SPA) | 24 | 10 |
| MID | 10 | Granit Xhaka | Arsenal (ENG) | 30 | 107 |
| MID | 8 | Remo Freuler | Nottingham Forest (ENG) | 30 | 49 |
| MID | 20 | Fabian Frei | Basel (SUI) | 33 | 22 |
| MID | 6 | Denis Zakaria | Chelsea (ENG) | 25 | 43 |
| MID | 15 | Djibril Sow | Frankfurt (GER) | 25 | 32 |
| MID | 11 | Renato Steffen | Lugano (SUI) | 30 | 27 |
| MID | 14 | Michel Aebischer | Bologna (ITA) | 25 | 11 |
| MID | 26 | Ardon Jashari | Luzern (SWI) | 20 | 1 |
| MID | 25 | Fabian Rieder | Young Boys | 20 | 0 |
| MID | 23 | Xherdan Shaqiri | Chicago Fire (USA) | 31 | 109 |
| MID | 17 | Ruben Vargas | Augsburg (GER) | 24 | 27 |
| MID | 2 | Edimilson Fernandes | Mainz (GER) | 26 | 22 |
| FWD | 19 | Noah Okafor | RB Salzburg (AUT) | 22 | 8 |
| FWD | 16 | Christian Fassnacht | Young Boys (SUI) | 28 | 15 |
| FWD | 9 | Haris Seferovic | Galatasaray (TUR) | 30 | 88 |
| Forward | 7 | Breel Embolo | Monaco (FRA) | 25 | 59 |
Credit: sportingnews.com