If Yugoslavia still existed......

[Temptation]

.....Would their National Team win the World Cup or the Euros in the recent years? And which particular editions of those tournaments do you think they'd win? How good would their squad be?

 

[Temptation]

It would consist of players from present day Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Slovenia.

I mean Croatia alone reached a World Cup final so surely not a crazy shout.

Some of the players from recent generation that'd be playing for them:

Handanovic, Oblak, Subasic, Alioski, Vidic, Ivanovic, Corluka, Srna, Lovren, Vida, Guardiola, Kolarov, Sosa, Stankovic, Modric, Rakitic, Brozovic, Kovacic, Pjanic, Matic, Kranjcar, Milinkovic-Savic, Perisic, Kostic, Vucinic, Tadic, Dzeko, Mandzukic, Olic, Ilicic, Pandev, Vlahovic, Mitrovic, Eduardo, etc.

And I'm sure I'm missing out on a shitload of names.

Imagine the starting 11s that could have been assembled in the respective editions of big tournaments.

 

[FCBfan22]

.....Would their National Team win the World Cup or the Euros in the recent years? And which particular editions of those tournaments do you think they'd win? How good would their squad be?

They would win previous world cup instead of France. Croatia came close and with some improvements in the starting 11, they would do it.

 

[khaled_a_d]

They will have the dream team of basketball instead of USA.
Football? Doubt it.
Maybe last WC if they had same coach and fighting spirits, still think France would have raken it as they had best squad and very good coach

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

Does anyone have a current lineup for Yugoslavia?

 

[Barcaman]

Ex YU was powerhouse in World sports and Croatia and Serbia still remain up there despite their relatively small population.

People always wonder how that happens. Infrastructure isn't good, corruption is rampant. Guess it's something in that DNA.

 

[Gnidrologist]

It's like Brazil. Their country is perpetual mess and lots of it are squalors, but in those squalors were born and nurtured future football geniuses. So neither population size or quality of life are definitive markers. Modern marxist science is butthurt about these questions the most, which is why they are banned from discussion.

 

[te amo barca]

Ex YU was powerhouse in World sports and Croatia and Serbia still remain up there despite their relatively small population.

People always wonder how that happens. Infrastructure isn't good, corruption is rampant. Guess it's something in that DNA.

It feels like Serbia have the second biggest number of "foreign" players at clubs around the world after Brazil. In any part of the world there will be a Serb playing for some team, it's incredible

 

[L3v1s]

I was thinking about this the other day.. Every now and then I remember how much of a stacked team they would have.. Unless there would be a dressing room fallout, I'd bet seeing them go deep in world cups/euros. If Croatia made the semi-finals twice and then played a final in 2018, imagine how much better it would be if they'd improve the weaker positions.


https://i.snipboard.io/h8VJZL.jpg (for better resolution)

This team would be STACKED in midfield. I've only made this team as of today based on form/quality but 3-4 years ago you'd have even more options. The goalkeepers would come from Slovenia(no surprise), defence would be a mix of Serb/Montenegrin/Croatian, midfield mostly from Croatia/Serbia(though you could've made an argument for the likes of Pjanic in his glory days), and the attack definitely needs to have Dzeko in his prime for me. Vlahovic/Mandzukic could be the subs. You could also mention some of the retired players like Kolarov/Matic/Rakitic/Vidic/Subotic/Lulic/Pandev etc.. Even the likes of Ibrahimovic if he chose to play for his home nation. Dzeko and Ibrahimovic uptop sounds crazy, but I don't know if it could work.

 

[FCBfan22]

I was thinking about this the other day.. Every now and then I remember how much of a stacked team they would have.. Unless there would be a dressing room fallout, I'd bet seeing them go deep in world cups/euros. If Croatia made the semi-finals twice and then played a final in 2018, imagine how much better it would be if they'd improve the weaker positions.

View attachment 9575
https://i.snipboard.io/h8VJZL.jpg (for better resolution)

This team would be STACKED in midfield. I've only made this team as of today based on form/quality but 3-4 years ago you'd have even more options. The goalkeepers would come from Slovenia(no surprise), defence would be a mix of Serb/Montenegrin/Croatian, midfield mostly from Croatia/Serbia(though you could've made an argument for the likes of Pjanic in his glory days), and the attack definitely needs to have Dzeko in his prime for me. Vlahovic/Mandzukic could be the subs. You could also mention some of the retired players like Kolarov/Matic/Rakitic/Vidic/Subotic/Lulic/Pandev etc.. Even the likes of Ibrahimovic if he chose to play for his home nation. Dzeko and Ibrahimovic uptop sounds crazy, but I don't know if it could work.

Also Iličić, who absolutely balled for Atalanta in 2018 and 2019. He was POTW in Champions League.

 

[malvolio]

I was thinking about this the other day.. Every now and then I remember how much of a stacked team they would have.. Unless there would be a dressing room fallout, I'd bet seeing them go deep in world cups/euros. If Croatia made the semi-finals twice and then played a final in 2018, imagine how much better it would be if they'd improve the weaker positions.

View attachment 9575
https://i.snipboard.io/h8VJZL.jpg (for better resolution)

This team would be STACKED in midfield. I've only made this team as of today based on form/quality but 3-4 years ago you'd have even more options. The goalkeepers would come from Slovenia(no surprise), defence would be a mix of Serb/Montenegrin/Croatian, midfield mostly from Croatia/Serbia(though you could've made an argument for the likes of Pjanic in his glory days), and the attack definitely needs to have Dzeko in his prime for me. Vlahovic/Mandzukic could be the subs. You could also mention some of the retired players like Kolarov/Matic/Rakitic/Vidic/Subotic/Lulic/Pandev etc.. Even the likes of Ibrahimovic if he chose to play for his home nation. Dzeko and Ibrahimovic uptop sounds crazy, but I don't know if it could work.

They wouldn't have such a stacked team now. Most of the forwards are past it. Still a decent team, that would cause problems to the big sides. Ten years ago I belive they would have been much better.

 

[L3v1s]

They wouldn't have such a stacked team now. Most of the forwards are past it. Still a decent team, that would cause problems to the big sides. Ten years ago I belive they would have been much better.

Most of these players were in their prime not too long ago(say 3-4 years ago) so I had to include them. Modric from 10 years ago isn't considered better than the player of the last 3-4 years for example.. But I agree, If you include many players from 10 years ago they'd be even more stacked.

Edit: Also yeah [MENTION=22475]FCBfan22[/MENTION] forgot to mention Ilicic. He's been insane for 2-3 years but he's very overweight now and playing in his home country. Apparently something related to his personal life caused him depression and he couldn't perform anymore.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

They would have a chance like any top team.

 

[malvolio]

Most of these players were in their prime not too long ago(say 3-4 years ago) so I had to include them. Modric from 10 years ago isn't considered better than the player of the last 3-4 years for example.. But I agree, If you include many players from 10 years ago they'd be even more stacked.

At the end of the day they wouldn't win anything. OK, maybe a fluke EURO. But they would have lacked the consistency of the big sides.

 

[L3v1s]

At the end of the day they wouldn't win anything. OK, maybe a fluke EURO. But they would have lacked the consistency of the big sides.

Even Greece won the Euros and nobody saw that coming. This Yugoslav team on paper is strong enough to win the Euros imo, but that is if their dressing room was united. It seems to be a mentality problem in the Balkans.