Basketball players are preparing for the continuation of the qualifications, Mitrović: One win would be great, and two - a fantasy

There are exactly 10 days left until the start of the second phase of the World Basketball Championship qualifiers - the Montenegrin national basketball team will play Georgia on August 28th (7:30 PM), while three days later they will host Ukraine in Podgorica (8:30 PM).

Ahead of the resumption of the qualifiers, our national team is at 4-2, just like Ukraine. Georgia, Greece and Portugal are at 3-3, while the leader of Group I is Spain, which has five wins and one loss. Three teams from the group will qualify for the World Cup, which will be held in Qatar next year.

The Montenegrin national basketball team began preparations for the August "window" last week in Podgorica. Coach Zvezdan Mitrović points out that some players have not yet started training due to injury problems, and that during the first week of preparations, the emphasis was on checking physical fitness.

"We have problems with injuries, some players have not yet started working with the first team, such as Nemanja Radović. Jovan Kljajić started training, because he was a day or two late, he had health problems. Aleksa Ilić had obligations at the club, and we expect his return on August 24th. We are not quite complete, but we are working. In the first week, the emphasis was on checking physical fitness, we introduced the players to some running, to raise their physical level. We would start with tactics from the next period. We have a few problems in high positions, but there is Đorđe Gulić Gulić who came from the youth selection. There are 12-13 players in the rotation, I hope that by Georgia we will have a wider rotation, at least in the positions of high players," said coach Mitrović.

Before the start of the second phase, Montenegro will play a control match against Slovenia in Celje on August 22nd.

"We will check some players. Radović and Ilić will not play that game, two important players in the rotation. Let's see the other players, let them feel the five-on-five game. We will have some pictures for our analysis," explained Mitrović.

When it comes to the August "window", our team faces two serious games, against rivals that have NBA and Euroleague players on their roster.

"Georgia has 14 players, there are basketball players from the NBA and Euroleague. We are facing a very demanding 'window', because the teams are mostly complete with players from the NBA and Euroleague. Ukraine was dominant, they say that Mikhaljuk and Sluga, who recently signed for Real Madrid, will appear. Just look at the lineups and you will understand what it is about. It is a difficult 'window', we will see. One win would be great, two a fantasy, and even if we get away with nothing, it is not a tragedy," concluded Zvezdan Mitrović.