Optimism before the match with Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) shows the desire of the Montenegrin basketball players to win in that game, said the coach of the Montenegrin national team, Boško Radović.
The basketball team of Montenegro will play the 11th round of qualification for the World Cup against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday in Tuzla. In August, Montenegro was better than BiH in Podgorica 88:69.
Radović said at the press conference that in the previous days Montenegrin players gave optimistic statements regarding the match with Bosnia and Herzegovina, which he also approves of.
"I am an optimist too. However, all that optimism must have some limit and support, and that only shows how much desire we all have to play a good game, to try to beat the Bosnia team," said Radović.
He assessed that they have a match waiting for them that has nothing to do with the match they played in August in Podgorica.
"They are two different teams compared to the August window, they are missing a lot of players, there are a lot of new ones, both with us and with them," he said.
Radović stated that they are expecting a good opponent, who has a core team of six-seven players who have been playing together for a long time.
As he said, they are not going to Tuzla to attack someone or to defend something, but to play a 0:0 game.
"We are going game by game, the most important thing is to play with a solid defense, a disciplined attack," pointed out Radović.
He said that they have a problem with Perry, because they will have only one training session with him before the game with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Radović said that Igor Drobnjak is in a fairly good condition and is available to the team.
The representative Nemanja Radović said that in the last window in a very favorable situation, but that they must be aware that they have two very important and difficult games ahead of them.
He said that a lot of players are missing from the Montenegrin national team, as well as BiH.
"It will be a good match, hard, they will look for their chance with the audience, combativeness and it will certainly not be an easy match," said Radović.
Asked if they think about plus 19 as a relief, Radovic said that they will look for their chance and that Bosnia and Herzegovina will probably chase that difference.
"If we have a chance, we will get them there, we will go for the win." It will be a difficult game, but we are not going to lose or to defend that difference of 19 points, we are going to play a strong game and if we are lucky to win," added Radović.
On Sunday, Montenegro will play in Podgorica against the Czech Republic.
Montenegro is currently in third place in Group K with six wins and four losses, behind Lithuania and France, who have a record of 8-2.
BiH is in fourth place with five wins and a draw each, the same as Hungary, while the Czech Republic is in last place in the group with only three wins.
So far, Montenegro has managed to qualify for the World Cup once, in 2019.
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