GRAZ, Austria (Reuters) - Serbia enjoyed a morale-boosting dress rehearsal for the World Cup after striker Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a hat-trick in their 5-1 drubbing of Bolivia in a friendly on Saturday. Stung by a lacklustre 1-0 defeat against Chile on Sunday, Serbia coach Mladen Krstajic switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation with Ljajic playing behind Mitrovic and central midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic deployed in a deeper role. The Serbians took their feet of the gas early in the second half and Bolivia quickly took advantage as Jhasmani Campos poked the ball past goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic after a fine solo run in the 48th minute. Bolivia keeper Guillermo Viscarra parried two stinging shots from Dusan Tadic but was powerless when Newcastle United striker Mitrovic curled a delightful shot from 20 metres past him to cap an outstanding individual performance. The Serbians also play Switzerland on June 22 and Brazil five days later.

Source: The Star June 09, 2018 18:11 UTC