The match against Czechia on 6 June will be the toughest test so far for the “Brave Falcons” in Group L. The game in Plzeň could determine a lot for the rest of the qualifying campaign.

- This match can define our path. We’re playing against a good opponent, and away from home, and a good result would mean a lot to us – and we believe we can achieve it,” head coach Robert Prosinečki told reporters.

The coach believes his team can match Czechia.

- I think we can cope with them, with teams of that calibre. We showed that against Türkiye. We know the Czechs are strong at set pieces, they’re tall, very tricky in every sense. Still, I think we can match them if we’re at our maximum. We hope Stefan Savić will finally be ready – since I arrived he’s only played against North Macedonia in Antalya. He means a lot to us in terms of security and everything else. We have our own weapons and we believe we can compete with Czechia, Prosinečki said.

The “Falcons” have bad memories from previous matches against Czechia, going back to the play‑offs in November 2011.

- In the past we haven’t done well against them, we have five defeats from five matches. They’re a disciplined team, with Patrik Schick from Bayer as their star and top scorer. They look solid, they have players from England and Germany, and the rest are more or less all from Slavia Prague, who also look very good from what we’ve seen. We watched the Czechs against the Faroe Islands, when they scored in the last minutes – but the Faroes are very awkward, as we ourselves found out. We have chances, we’ll prepare well, and we have more days to work together than usual, the coach explained.

This time, the handicap is Adam Marušić’s injury.

- The only problem is Marušić’s injury – he felt pain in his last match for Lazio. He won’t come. Janković and Vešović have club commitments, and we’re still waiting for Radulović and Marko Vukčević. We hope there won’t be any more issues, said Prosinečki.

The June window is often described as tricky, among other things because players are eager for a break after a long season.

- There’s no problem with any player’s focus. Everyone who comes here is thinking only about the national team. We know we have a big chance because we already have six points, regardless of the fact that our opponents were Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands. All the players are certainly motivated, they like coming to the national team, and the atmosphere is good, the “Falcons” coach stressed.

For the first time with the senior squad are Vasilije Adžić and Andrija Bulatović.

- As soon as they are here, they have a chance to force their way in for the Czechia match. I’m sorry Adžić has played so little for Juventus – he would mean even more to us if he’d had more minutes – but we called him because he and Bulatović are very talented players. With the U21 team they achieved great success by qualifying for the European Championship, where only eight teams participate. On top of that, Bulatović has also shown at Budućnost that he can be seriously counted on, said Prosinečki.