 For the next qualifying match, at the end of summer against France, Serbia's chance to seal qualification by winning at home, Subotić got benched and didn't enter the contest at all, as Antić preferred Aleksandar Luković to partner Vidić on this occasion.The same central defensive pairing started the next qualifier against Romania at home (another chance to automatically qualify with a win after failing to beat the French), while Subotić got a chance to run out for the last 15 minutes as a sub for Vidić with the score 2–0 for Serbia as it eventually clinched the World Cup spot with a 5–0 thrashing.In the last meaningless qualifier against Lithuania, Subotić played the full 90 minutes in a free role on the wing as Antić looked to experiment and try different setups without any fear of dropping points.