Tirana: Albanians are cheering for Serbia tonight; In “Zdravko” cafe everything ready for the game broadcast

In the cafe "Zdravko" in Tirana, owned by Mileta Dasic, the final preparations are in full swing for the broadcast of tonight's match between the national football teams of Serbia and Switzerland, which will be played in Group G at the World Cup in Qatar.

Dasic was born in Tirana, and his origins are from Montenegro. He is a big fan of the football club Red Star (Crvena Zvezda), tennis player Novak Djokovic, and the singer Zdravko Colic, after whom he named his cafe.

He says that tonight he will cheer for Serbia against Switzerland with his Albanian friends. He predicts a 2:0 victory for Serbia if Kostic, Vlahovic, and Mitrovic play.

His Albanian friend Andrea Sevo says that he hopes that tonight Serbia will be able to field a stronger team than they had against Brazil. Sevo also had a message for the coach of Serbia, Dragan Stojkovic-Piksi.

"If a team like Juventus pays Vlahovic millions of euros, then he should play. We expect a victory today," says Sevo, who expects 3:1 for Serbia.

Dasic points out that it is not unusual to support Serbia or Serbian clubs in Albania.

"When Red Star became the champion of Europe and the world champion, it was celebrated the same way as in Belgrade. Not only me, who comes from Montenegro but all my friends in Albania. Yugoslavian sports are followed in Albania. The president of FC Tirana is my school friend and he says to me: ‘Mileta, you are not my problem, I know you support Red Star, my problem is the coaching staff of Tirana who support Red Star, and I pay them," Dasic quotes the words that the president of FC Tirana Refik Halili said jokingly.

Dasic adds that they were unable to organize a joint dinner with Red Star footballers due to the coronavirus pandemic, but he hopes that such a gathering will happen in the future. He says that sport is a great opportunity to promote the Open Balkan.