On a flight from Frankfurt a little before 17:XNUMX p.m., the expedition of the basketball team of Montenegro returned from Lithuania yesterday from the European Championship.
Even the biggest pessimists didn't expect that the "reds" would return from their premier performance in major competitions already after a week.
However, according to the games that Nikola Peković and his teammates showed in five games, a different outcome was not possible.
It was not even a shadow of the team that played good basketball and recorded good results the previous three years.
Most of the national team members hurriedly left the airport building, led by the captain, and only a few were ready to say a word about the failure in the Baltic state.
"We did not achieve the result we all wished for. We went to Lithuania with a great desire to achieve different results with a better quality game. A bad result requires a detailed analysis, and in agreement with the director of the national team, in the next 15 days I will submit a report to the management of the Basketball Association of Montenegro. We will also a conversation about everything we did during the preparations and at the European Championship in Lithuania, and I hope we will find the causes of our performance like this," said selector Dejan Radonjić, visibly upset.
It was expected that Montenegro would end their appearance at the continental championship with a victory, but Finland was also better.
"All this was a consequence of what happened before. The Finnish team was motivated, because it had a chance to go to the second round, which it achieved. Our national team, after learning that we were definitely returning home, could not produce the maximum psychological position for that duel. Finland looked very different in Lithuania than they did in the qualifiers, with several new players bringing enviable quality to the win. We were plagued by injuries before and during the match, but in principle we cannot be satisfied with the outcome".
The heads are still "hot", everyone had a hard time with the early elimination. When the impressions settle down a bit, the analysis will follow.
"The specificity of this situation requires a cool head to make a detailed analysis in cooperation with the entire professional staff. In the coming period, a full report will be made and the reason for our performances like this at the European Championship will be found, and I hope that we will learn from all of this."
Radonjić spoke with the director of the national team, Danilo Mitrović, about his future status at the head of the national team.
"I had a conversation with the director of the national team, which came down to fulfilling our professional obligations to the management of the Basketball Association of Montenegro in the coming period, and I will do it," concluded Radonjić.
Nikola Vucevic, who along with Vladimir Mihailović was the youngest in our selection, was also disappointed.
"I don't know the reason for such a bad result, something didn't go right. The desire was not disputed, we all wanted to make a good result. Unfortunately, we didn't succeed. It remains for us to do well in the qualifications next year and make a better result at the next European Championship," explained is Vucevic.
Defeat against Bosnia and Herzegovina disrupted everything
One of the most experienced players in the national team, Goran Jeretin, is still rewinding the film from the matches in Lithuania, in order to try to find the reason for the bad result.
"We are disappointed and in principle everyone would be in this situation as everything went. After the first victory over Macedonia, which finished first in the group, the game against Bosnia and Herzegovina followed and that defeat got deeper into our skin than we expected. left a lot of consequences from which we could not recover".
When asked if it was the failure against Bosnia and Herzegovina that threw the team out of rhythm, Jeretin said:
"My personal opinion is that it is so".
Bonus video:
