As many times before, the beginning of preparations for the football team of Montenegro is marked by dismissal.
Even before the action for the three October matches began, coach Faruk Hadžibegić changed the list of players.
The injured Tomašević, Savićević and Šarkić will not come to Podgorica, and apparently neither Marušić, who left the field in the Serie A derby between Lazio and Inter in the 35th minute.
Mugoša is absent due to the corona rules in South Korea, while Vešović is out of the combinations due to a serious knee injury...
"These are the problems that we will solve in the next few days. Every player is important to us, and now the boys are with us, who, I'm sure, will have the maximum level of motivation and desire. They have all that when they play for the national team," he said. is Hadžibegić, who delivered the subsequent invitations Radunović, Dragojević, and debutants Vujnović and Kordić.
The four of them will compete for matches with Azerbaijan and Luxembourg in the League of Nations, but before that, Montenegro will have a friendly match with Latvia on Wednesday in Podgorica.
It will be a real control match, in which football players from domestic clubs - Šofranac, Bulatović, Janković, Kojašević (Sutjeska), Vukčević (Podgorica), Raičković, Ivanović (Budućnost) and Kalezić (Zeta) - should have the main say. Hadžibegić invited to the national team, so that the most important players could rest, refresh and prepare for two competitive duels.
"I have always said that I take care of the domestic championship, that I appreciate the players from our league and the coaches who lead them. We invited a few of them to see them in a friendly match with Latvia, and then to see who will remain in the group for two matches in League of Nations," explained the coach.
Although there is a clear difference between the importance of the match with Latvia and the official matches, Hadžibegić will insist that the first match has the same status as the competitive one.
"If the players from our league hadn't drawn attention, I wouldn't have invited them. It's not a classic tryout, because I stick to the plan to expand the player base. We can't rely only on footballers who play in foreign clubs. The boys deserved the invitation, but the status of a national team player must be confirmed. The importance of the matches with Azerbaijan and Luxembourg is so great that, however, we cannot rely only on players from the domestic scene. We can learn a lot from the match with Latvia, and every match is important because of motivation and pride who wears the jersey of the national team of Montenegro," emphasized Hadžibegić.
By combining the squad, the workload for the players will be reduced to some extent - for the first time, three matches of national teams are played in seven days, the schedule is deadly, the fear of the coronavirus is real.
"It's an emergency situation and it's not pleasant. It's a problem all over the world. The conditions for preparation and work are not ideal. Honestly, I fear for the health of all of us. Who is right, why is it so - we have to adapt, and most importantly is that we are all alive and well," emphasized Hadžibegić.
Health will be checked at least four times during the preparation period - that's how many members of the national team will be tested for the coronavirus in the next ten days.
"It is important to be disciplined, to comply with all recommendations, to take care of our health... I can't wait for the tests and results, especially when they are negative," concluded Hadžibegić with a smile.
In the next nine days, Montenegro will play three games under Gorica.
It welcomes Latvia on Wednesday, Azerbaijan on October 10, and Luxembourg three days later.
After two rounds of the C League of Nations, Montenegro is first in Group 1 of the C League of Nations with six points.
They beat Cyprus (2:0) and Luxembourg (1:0) away.
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