Belgrade offers a sterner kind of welcome on Sunday evening, even if Serbia arrive at the Rajko Mitic Stadium with their own worries close to the surface. Xavi Hernández’s Netherlands travel east for an 18:00 meeting that will show whether the encouraging first notes of his Oranje tenure can become something more durable. The draw with Germany on his debut carried considerable promise; on another night, it might have brought more than a point.
Known locally as the “Little Maracanã”, the Rajko Mitic is set to stage the next test of a Dutch side being reshaped around Xavi’s familiar convictions. He wants the Netherlands to command possession, play with intensity and take responsibility for the direction of a match. Those principles were evident against Germany, particularly after the interval, when the Dutch found themselves behind and responded with greater authority.
Serbia, however, present a very different assignment. Their level may not match Germany’s on paper, but the hosts have urgency of their own after a difficult week in Belgrade. Greece won 2-1 there on Thursday, despite Serbia taking the lead in the fourth minute. The home side appeared likely to salvage a draw before Douvikas struck in the 95th minute, turning an uneasy evening into one marked by whistles from the stands.
That defeat has compounded the frustration of Serbia’s failure to reach last summer’s World Cup. With a restless home public expected again, they can scarcely afford another reverse. For the Netherlands, the atmosphere should provide a useful measure of how well Xavi’s ideas have been absorbed when the opposition is driven as much by need as by tactical preparation.
Early choices in the new Oranje
Xavi has begun without Memphis Depay, though he has not ruled out a future return for the forward. Virgil van Dijk remains captain, providing continuity in a side where the new coach has also moved quickly to look at other options. Summerville and Quentin Timber were handed prominent roles against Germany, while Ruben van Bommel made his debut and supplied the pass for Cody Gakpo’s equaliser.
There is little time in international football for a new project to exist only as an idea. The German performance gave Xavi a platform, but Belgrade will ask a separate question: can his team impose itself away from home while turning encouraging play into a result? Serbia’s recent decline makes them vulnerable, yet it also makes them dangerous. By the end of Sunday’s contest, the Dutch will hope to have left the Little Maracanã with both conviction and victory.
