Today we are going to talk about Serbia, Brazil´s opponent in the last World Cup and in this one, and that is a country that became unique only in 2006.
SERBIA
- Name written in its native language: Србија
- Language: Serbian
- Capital city: Belgrade
- Currency: Serbian Dinar (BRL 0.044 – currency exchange on 11/01/2022)
- Main player: Dusan Vlahovic
- Typical food: Pljeskavica
Curiosities
Serbia is a country that went through a lot of conflicts in its history, including recent conflicts, the last being Kosovo War, in 1999, when Kosovo became independent. Before that, the Serbian territory was part of Yugoslavia and, after separation from Yugoslavia, Serbia became a single territory with Montenegro. This union existed until 2006, when the countries decided to become sovereign and separate.
Belgrade, the capital, is considered one of the oldest cities in the world. Excavations suggest that Belgrade was already inhabited 7,000 years ago. Beograd (as it is pronounced in Serbian) means white city, and this name was given by the Celts, one of the first people to inhabit the region.
The main economic activity in Serbia is agriculture. The country has deposits of coal, zinc, copper, and gold, and the industrial sector is also strong in the country, which has been registering increases in the GDP and a decrease in the public debt over the years.
Serbian language is a linguistic variety of Serbo-Croatian, which had its use standardized. Besides being the official language of Serbia, Serbian is spoken in Kosovo, where it is also the official language, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Montenegro, in Croatia, and in other Baltic countries.
The Serbian language
The Serbian language uses the Cyrillic alphabet, the same used in Russia, which may make reading difficult for tourists, even for those who come from other European countries. And so, the use of a professional translator to translate any Serbian documents becomes indispensable.
The Serbian cuisine is a mixture of Turkish, Greek, and Baltic cuisines. Serbians have several types of cheese and bread, which are used in a variety of ways.
The dish that draws the most attention is pljeskavica, a large disc of meat served inside the bread with onion, paprika, cheese, and vegetables. It is made with pork, beef, and lamb, and can be easily found in Belgrade. And calling pljeskavica a hamburger is considered disrespectful in Serbia.
The Serbian team has already played against Brazil in 2018 and, in that match, Brazil won 2×0. In 2022 the teams will meet again in the group stage, this time in the opening match, and some of the same of the players of the 2018 team should be in this year´s team. However, the main player of Serbia, Dusan Vlahovic, is new, and was called up for the first time only in 2020.
The striker arrived at Juventus in the middle of last season, after a stint at Fiorentina, and is already key part of Juventus. At only 22 years of age, Vlahovic has scored 8 goals in 16 games for the Serbian team. His participation in the World Cup, however, is called into question. Vlahovic has a chronic groin injury and suffers in pain.
Serbia changes drastically in case Vlahovic has no conditions to go to the World Cup. The Serbians hope is that the player recovers in time at least for the two last matches of the group stage, which would leave him out of the opening game against Brazil.
This was Eko’s in the World Cup for Serbia. If you liked it, follow our social media (Instagram: @ekostraducoes / LinkedIn: ekostraducoes) and come back tomorrow, because we are going to talk about Switzerland.