From Munich via Vienna to Podgorica - world champion Germany arrives in our capital today, where they will face Montenegro in the EuroBasket qualifiers on Thursday (19pm).
Our national team can only be separated from the European Championship by a miracle, and with a win less, the Germans are less calm. However, they have everything in their hands, so they will decide the fate of the qualifications in "Morača" and three days later in Bamberg against Bulgaria.
"We have two small finals waiting for us," said Alex Mumbru, the German coach, who does not want to think about whether he will receive a gift from Sweden on Thursday, which would practically eliminate the Balkan team with a victory over Bulgaria.
"We don't know what will happen in Bulgaria, we just have to do our best to win both matches."
It doesn't sound very realistic, but the situation is such that the world champion has to consider that elimination from EuroBasket, which is organized by Latvia, Poland, Finland and Cyprus, is a possible scenario.
"We are aware of how difficult the situation is. We know that this possibility exists, but I also know that we will be ready to play well," added the legendary Spanish basketball player who sat on the bench for Germany at the end of the year.
How much they don't want to leave anything to chance in Germany is also shown by the fact that Mumbru is counting on seven guys who conquered the world in Manila in 2023 for the last two matches - Isaac Bonga, Andreas Obst, Johannes Feujtmann, Justus Hollac, Johannes Thiemann, David Kramer and Daniel Theis, with the latter not playing for "Morača".
"These guys are world champions, they have a lot of experience. In a difficult situation like ours, it's important that they are with us," concluded Mumbru.
Unlike Germany, our national team will be weakened by the absence of captain Bojan Dubljević and Charlie Moore, the guy who was supposed to replace Kendrick Perry.
However, the ticket for Montenegro's fifth appearance at EuroBasket is practically in the hands of Boško Radović and his chosen ones, as a practically impossible outcome could separate them from the continental championship.
For that to happen, Montenegro must lose to Germany and Sweden three days later in Stockholm, then all teams in the group must have a score of 3-3 and our national team must have the weakest point difference, which is currently plus 28.
All of this does not mean that Radović's men do not have a great desire to knock down the world champion on their home floor and end all talk about other combinations before the end of the round.
Bonus video:
