Kovačević and Živaljević: Ideal start, we are going for victory against Mozambique

The premiere in the pre-qualifications for the World Cup was phenomenal - the Montenegrin basketball players were convincing against New Zealand and won 88:64.

Jelena Škerović's team had a great start to the tournament in Mexico, and Bojana Kovačević was the most effective, finishing the match with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists, for a total index of 22.

"A very important victory for us at the opening of the tournament. When you play a tournament-type competition, where everyone in the group sees their chance, it is clear that every triumph is extremely important, and that victory at the start brings special confidence, so for that reason this victory for us has a special significance. I think we prepared well for this match, the coaching staff did a good scouting and we really performed excellently," Kovačević told the Association's website.

Next is the match with Mozambique, on the night between Wednesday and Thursday (1:30).

"It was expected that Mozambique would beat Mexico, but the home team managed to make a surprise. That match will mean a lot to us, to prepare as well as possible for Mozambique, which plays a specific style of basketball, so we have to prepare for another way. But we have time and I believe that we will respond to that challenge in the right way," emphasized Kovačević.

And Sofija Živaljević played the first minutes against New Zealand in the official match after a long break due to injury. The playmaker of our national team suffered one of the most serious sports injuries at the beginning of September last year, during the preparations for the German Keltern - she tore the anterior cruciate ligament.

She scored nine points against New Zealand.

"For sure, this is a big victory for us at the start of the pre-qualification tournament for placement in Mundobasket. We knew that the ideal start would be when we beat New Zealand, and given that we showed a good game and in the end registered a convincing triumph, it is certainly "This is the best possible start. We entered the match well, followed all the agreements from the dressing room, and even celebrated convincingly at the end. There is no time to celebrate, we turned to the duel immediately after the match," she said. Živaljević for the website of the Association.

Živaljević then referred to the Mozambique team.

"Mozambique is first of all a very powerful team physically, they run well, they are strong, they play a very aggressive defense, but we also have some advantages of our own. It is good that we had the opportunity to follow them against Mexico, because during the preparations there was very little information available about them. We will use the free day at the tournament to prepare for them as well as possible and of course we will go for the win," added Živaljević.