Stojkovic: I do not care about England, I am thinking only about Latvia

BELGRADE - The head coach of the Serbia men's national football team Dragan Stojkovic said on Monday he was thinking only about the upcoming match against Latvia and that he did not care about talk about the next opponent - England.

In FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifying Group K, Serbia will play Latvia in Riga on September 6 and host England in Belgrade on September 9.

"England are a forbidden topic, there are no discussions about that. I do not care about them. What I care about is Latvia and everything that will be going on in that game. Once things in Riga are finished, then we will talk about England. The objective is to win three points in Riga and the focus is exclusively on that match. That is an extremely important game for us if we win the three points, and I think we will. If we want to qualify for the World Cup, and we do, we need to win games like these," Stojkovic told reporters at the Football Association of Serbia Sports Centre in Stara Pazova, near Belgrade.

Stojkovic said he was concerned by the fact captain Aleksandar Mitrovic had not played an official game since Serbia's win over Andorra in June.

"Of course I am concerned, and of course I do not like it when players of our national team do not have playing time (at their clubs). We will speak with Mitrovic," Stojkovic said, adding that he had "full confidence" in the Al Hilal striker.

"We will see what shape he is in when he arrives today," he added.

England are on top of the group table with nine points and are followed by Albania with five points, Serbia and Latvia with four points each and Andorra with zero points.