Matijašević: I believe in the team

"One of the reasons why I suddenly accepted this job is precisely the European League. It was not easy to secure participation in this competition, I hope we will not disappoint. I would very much like it to become a tradition, and if the people who lead the Association manage to maintain continuity, for the Euroleague to be played next year, I think that volleyball can improve a lot. I hope that volleyball will follow the great examples of other collective sports in Montenegro, handball, basketball, water polo, although I am not sure that we will immediately succeed in following them in terms of results. But God forbid I be mistaken. We agreed that we will be serious and mature, not to "target" each other with promises, but to work, so we will see if that work is enough to achieve some good results. We will see that in a month," announced Nikola Matijašević, Montenegrin volleyball coach, the start of the European League, in which our national team will make its debut.

Montenegro will play in group B with Spain, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Each of these national teams will host a three-day tournament, and the first one will be in Kečkemet, Hungary, from June 15 to 17.

Unlike the qualifying tournament for the World Cup in Skopje, when he arrived three days earlier (he succeeded Ivan Joksimović at the helm), Matijašević had two and a half weeks for the Euroleague, just a little more time to try to fix some things that didn't work in the main the city of Macedonia.

"In Macedonia we played extremely badly, and achieved a very bad result, and there are many reasons. I think we went there quite unprepared. But now that's in the past, I'm trying to look forward. We were preparing in Budva, where we had very good conditions for work, and the weather also helped us, since in this period the heat can be great, but we did not have that problem. I thank the Budva Riviera for their hospitality, they made available to us a hall, a gym and other things so that we could work in favorable conditions I am extremely satisfied with the work of the entire team, I am glad that the more experienced players accepted the younger ones, which is not always easy, because the work habits are different. I think the atmosphere is very good," Matijašević adds.

The new coach made some changes after Skopje, he decided that first technician Simo Dabović and receiver Vladimir Bojić would not be in the national team for a while, officially because he wants to try some other, younger players, unofficially because of allegedly unsportsmanlike behavior off the field.

Due to a shoulder injury, the first corrector Miloš Ćulafić will not be there for the first two tournaments.

After four years, the receiver Vojin Ćaćić returns to the national team, and the new names in relation to the World Cup qualifications are the young technician of Vojvodina, Rajko Strugar (troubled by his groin), and the receiver Božidar Ćuk, who received citizenship and the opportunity to play for the senior team .

The rest of the team for Kečkemet is the same as at the end of May in Skopje – technician Marko Vujović, corrector Aleksandar Minić, receivers Aleksandar Milivojević (he has knee problems) and Balša Radunović, middle blockers Milan Marković, Luka Šuljagić and Gojko Ćuk, and libero Ivan Rašović.

"I have a lot of faith in the team, and I am sure that the team will do everything to show a different face compared to Skopje. As for the results, I did not deal with astrology, nor would I like to make predictions, nor make promises. I believe that we can achieve good results, although I'm not sure what would be a good result for us. The best would be, of course, to be first and then go to Turkey for the final tournament, but I don't know if we have the possibility to do that," the Montenegrin coach concluded.

Marković: Let's see how much we can

"I think the Euroleague is an important competition for all of us, especially for the men's national team, because we need the experience gained by playing those games. I think it's a real test to see how much we can do at this moment. We will play in a much changed composition compared to previous actions, but what is, is there. We are expected to give our maximum, to do our best, to fight, and try to achieve some positive result. I am sure that we will gradually improve our form, we need games, and the more of them we have, everything will look better," said captain Milan Marković.

His partner in the position of middle blocker, Luka Šuljagić, reminded that "the European League is the biggest competition that the national team has had since 2006".

"The importance of that competition is great, there are a lot of games, I am sure that we will come out of it all as better players individually, but also as a team for some subsequent actions. The system of the competition is a bit strange. Three games in three days, four tournaments in four consecutive weekend, and the rules have changed a bit. That's why each of the 12 players will be important, because there are a lot of games, a lot of traveling. Even though it was a short period of preparation, even though we played badly in Macedonia, we will surely play much better in the Europa League, because we are physically more prepared. The first tournament is very important, because I think that the teams that win the most points in Hungary will have a psychological advantage later on. We see a chance at every tournament, the biggest one in Podgorica, where I hope for support from the stands ", said Šuljagić.

The volleyball players are traveling to Kecskemet today, and they will play their first match in the European League against Hungary on Saturday (18 p.m.).

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