A ticket to Latvia, Poland, Finland or Cyprus, one of the countries that will host Eurobasket this summer, is practically in your pocket - as confirmation, Montenegrin basketball players want a prestigious scalp. Against world champion Germany, in front of their fans
The spectacle at the Mtel Hall "Morača" is getting closer, Boško Radović's men will play the last match in the qualifiers on their home field on Thursday at 19 pm.
"We know that many superpowers like France have fallen in 'Morača', so nothing is impossible, and certainly a victory against the world champion would be something truly phenomenal and an ideal way to say goodbye to the fans," said Nemanja Radović, the winger of our national team.
Germany is also close to qualifying for the European Championship, with the world champions having one win less than Montenegro, and therefore more pressure against Montenegro and three days later with Bulgaria. Therefore, it is not surprising that coach Alex Mumbra called up seven players who won the 2023 World Basketball Championship for these two matches.
"We are aware that the current world champion is coming to us, who will play with a very strong squad, so it is also a good opportunity for as many fans as possible to come, because it will be a great match. In front of our audience we always have the greatest motivation, whether that will be enough for victory we will see, but I certainly expect a good match," Radović added to the KSCG website.
Montenegro is seeking official confirmation of its placement in the fifth EuroBasket since regaining independence, having done most of the work with two victories over Bulgaria in the previous FIBA window.
Thus, Radović and his teammates could only remain without a place in the continental championship if they lose to Germany and Sweden three days later in Stockholm, then if all teams in the group have a score of 3-3 and our national team has the weakest goal difference, which is currently plus 28.
"It's clear that the last 'window' in November helped us a lot, because we did a good job. The two wins against Bulgaria meant a lot to us, especially the break in Botevgrad, so realistically we are very close to our goal with two rounds left. What's really good - we also made a good point difference, so realistically we are now in a pretty good position ahead of this cycle," emphasized the basketball player from Spanish Murcia.
Unlike Germany, whose big stars Denis Schroeder and Daniel Theis will not be playing in "Morača" (he is only playing the second match of this tournament), our national team will have to do without captain Bojan Dubljević and Charlie Moore, the injured point guard who was supposed to be a replacement for Kendrick Perry.
"We have two demanding and certainly difficult matches ahead of us. We have a duel against Germany in Podgorica, and then three days later we are away in Sweden. We will not be complete, we are missing certain players, so that makes the job even more difficult before the final cycle, but as always, we are all very motivated and determined to give our maximum and do what is up to us," concluded Radović.
Montenegro is seeking official confirmation of its EuroBasket placement, is a rival of the world champions, and admission to "Morača" is free - it seems there could be no more ideal time for the stands of our largest hall to be fully filled.
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