{"id":204343,"date":"2026-03-14T15:00:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T13:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=204343"},"modified":"2026-03-14T15:00:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T13:00:45","slug":"matic-speaks-his-mind-we-lack-quality-because-politics-entered-football-and-brought-despair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/matic-speaks-his-mind-we-lack-quality-because-politics-entered-football-and-brought-despair\/","title":{"rendered":"MATI\u0106 SPEAKS HIS MIND: \u201cWe Lack Quality Because Politics Entered Football and Brought Despair\u201d!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Former Serbian international Nemanja Mati\u0107 gave a candid response to Italian media about the current state of football in his country. He also addressed the alleged conflict with Sini\u0161a Mihajlovi\u0107, sharing an interesting story about their \u201creconciliation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There had been speculation that the midfielder and Mihajlovi\u0107 were on bad terms due to a disagreement while the legendary coach was Serbia\u2019s national team manager. However, Mati\u0107 denied this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNo, those are empty stories someone spread. Mihajlovi\u0107 usually called up 30 players, but I was the fifth choice in midfield and didn\u2019t play a single minute in the first three matches. I told one of the assistants that I didn\u2019t want to be called again, for me it was a waste of time. Journalists, surprised by my absence, asked Sini\u0161a why that was. He replied that I had to apologize, and after that, we didn\u2019t talk. There was nothing personal,\u201d the 37-year-old told <em>Gazzetta<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reconciliation happened quickly, for the greater goal and success of the \u201cEagles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-serbiantimes-info wp-block-embed-serbiantimes-info\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"KcBTv8iays\"><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/ne-cekaj-promenu-budi-njen-glas-studenti-danas-organizuju-velike-skupove-u-10-opstina-gde-se-odrzavaju-izbori\/\">&#8222;NE \u010cEKAJ PROMENU, BUDI NJEN GLAS&#8220;: Studenti danas organizuju velike skupove u 10 op\u0161tina gde se odr\u017eavaju izbori!<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#132;&#8222;NE \u010cEKAJ PROMENU, BUDI NJEN GLAS&#8220;: Studenti danas organizuju velike skupove u 10 op\u0161tina gde se odr\u017eavaju izbori!&#147; &#8212; Serbiantimes.info\" src=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/ne-cekaj-promenu-budi-njen-glas-studenti-danas-organizuju-velike-skupove-u-10-opstina-gde-se-odrzavaju-izbori\/embed\/#?secret=M3kfMczQ7Z#?secret=KcBTv8iays\" data-secret=\"KcBTv8iays\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA year and a half later, he called me to return. We went to dinner and first he put on his usual stern expression. I tried to explain my reasons, but he interrupted me with a smile and said, \u2018Relax, I don\u2019t care about the past. You have to come back to the national team; we can\u2019t lose to Croatia.\u2019 We weren\u2019t defeated, it ended 1-1.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Serbia has recently recorded weaker results than before, with fewer players competing at top clubs. There are no longer individuals like Mati\u0107, Ivanovi\u0107, Vidi\u0107, Stankovi\u0107, Kolarov, or Suboti\u0107\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSimply put, we lack quality. Our youth academies have been producing players with noticeably less talent than before for too long. Politics entered football and brought desperate results.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After successful spells at Benfica, Chelsea, Manchester United, Roma, Rennes, and Lyon, Mati\u0107 took over at Sassuolo. With his help, the club reached eighth place in the table\u2014a result that even the biggest optimists in Emilia-Romagna did not expect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">MORE TOPICS:<\/mark><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/scandal-in-the-canadian-eparchy-of-the-soc-eparchy-secretary-marjanac-accused-of-embezzling-over-250000-forbidden-from-serving-until-he-returns-the-money\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">SCANDAL IN THE CANADIAN EPARCHY OF THE SOC: Eparchy secretary Marjanac accused of embezzling over $250,000, forbidden from serving until he returns the money!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/milanovic-attacked-the-whole-world-ursula-is-an-official-without-authority-and-europe-is-a-pack-of-house-cats-iran-as-well-as-israel-is-prone-to-terrorism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">MILANOVIC ATTACKED THE WHOLE WORLD: Ursula is an official without authority, and Europe is a pack of house cats, Iran as well as Israel is prone to terrorism!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/bun-ajvar-cevapi-and-onions-in-the-middle-of-sydney-snezana-showed-australians-the-charms-of-balkan-cuisine-on-a-morning-program-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">BUN, AJVAR, CEVAPI AND ONIONS IN THE MIDDLE OF SYDNEY: Snezana showed Australians the charms of Balkan cuisine on a morning program! (VIDEO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/serbian-saint-who-is-not-spoken-of-double-doctor-of-sciences-from-the-sorbonne-became-a-monk-communists-killed-him-because-he-shared-the-our-father-prayer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">SERBIAN SAINT WHO IS NOT SPOKEN OF: Double doctor of sciences from the Sorbonne became a monk, communists killed him because he shared the \u201cOur Father\u201d prayer!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/memories-of-dragan-nikolic-unforgettable-anecdotes-of-the-legendary-actor-from-the-perspective-of-three-female-friends\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">MEMORIES OF DRAGAN NIKOLIC: Unforgettable anecdotes of the legendary actor from the perspective of three female friends!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong>Source<\/strong><\/strong>:  Sportklub, Foto:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Serbian international Nemanja Mati\u0107 gave a candid response to Italian media about the current state of football in his country. He also addressed the alleged conflict with Sini\u0161a Mihajlovi\u0107, sharing an interesting story about their \u201creconciliation.\u201d There had been speculation that the midfielder and Mihajlovi\u0107 were on bad terms due to a disagreement while [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2169,"featured_media":204344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[86,6920,11728,113],"class_list":["post-204343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-fudbal","tag-nemanja-matic","tag-raspad","tag-srbija","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Serbiantimes.info EN","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204343"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204374,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204343\/revisions\/204374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}