The legendary player of Hajduk and the SFRY national team, Ivan Gudelj, remembers great generations of Montenegrin footballers, but he has no dilemma - Dejan Savićević is a player who marked an entire era in the former Yugoslavia, Europe and the world. He appreciates that today's football is impossible to compare with those times of romanticism in which, like him, generations of football players made magic out of the game and out of the happenings on the miraculous green rectangle, gave birth to the most important secondary thing on the planet.
Gudelj, unfortunately, due to illness, at the peak of his phenomenal playing career, at the age of 26 and before moving to one of the most famous European clubs, had to leave football and live some other dreams... He played 362 games for his "Bila" and scored 93 goals.
At the invitation of the well-known businessman from Ulcinj, Pavel Pepđonović, he will stay in the southernmost city from the 11th to the 14th of this month, when the promotion of the book "Ivan Gudelj - Hajdučka priča" by Blaž Duplančić and the documentary film "Ivan's Game" directed by Tomislav Žaja will be held. .
The arrival in the southernmost city was confirmed by all the football legends of ex-Yugoslavia from the XNUMXs and earlier - Miloš Bursać, Ivica Šurjak, Faruk Hadžibegić, Stanislav Karasi, Miloš Šestić, Vladimir Petrović Pižon, Dževad Prekazi, Mehmed Baždarević, Vančo Balevski, Dževad Šećerbegović, Predrag Pašić, Ljubomir Radanović, Milan Krlja Radović, Radmilo Mihajlović, Ivo Jerolimov, Nikica Cukrov, Zoran Simović, Dragan Kanatlarovski, as well as local icons, Dejan Savićević, Ante Miročević, Dragan Guzo Vujović, Bakrač brothers, Brajan Nenezić ... Together with them, well-known sports journalists are arriving - Milojko Pantić from Serbia, Sinan Sinanović from Bosnia and Herzegovina...
Which Montenegrin footballer do you fondly remember? Which was your best and which was your favorite?
"We played many times in what was then Titograd, Budućnost is a team with tradition, it was not easy and they were always difficult away games. I remember great players, really, but I think that Dejo Savićević was a player who marked an entire era, a footballer who is rarely born with such talent. Of course, I remember the generation of great players like Vujović, Vukčević, Vorotović, Vlaisavljević and especially Mić Bakrač, with whom I played in Hajduk. An extraordinary man and footballer, we remained good friends and I use the opportunity to greet them all. Unfortunately, I also heard about the difficult fate of Vorotović, who had an accident and is living difficult days. I believe that soon we will have an action of us players from the area of the former Yugoslavia and that we will have as much good news for our Zoran as well. I repeat, I'm sorry because I myself had personal tragedies, other footballers have them too, even the best ones, but fate doesn't choose.
How much do you follow football today and do you like where it's going?
"What is happening in football today is difficult to compare with the time in which we played. That was the time of romanticism, I mean the sixties, seventies or eighties of the last century, and even a little later. We had one Pele, Maradona, Savićević from this area, today we have Messi, but also a somewhat different football in which knowledge and skill are not dominant but absolutely physical predispositions. Today, we have the Champions League, Europe, Nations... With the disintegration of some big countries, we got a lot more clubs, national teams and therefore more matches. Remember, we had the Champions Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup, we waited three months for those games. Unlike back then, when we couldn't go outside until we were 27 or 28 years old, today the law of the market is inexorable, like an industry. They'll get you a talented boy, but they won't guarantee success. I think that today the quality of football has dropped a little because of all that, but we can't do anything about it. Football is a collective sport in which certain details or quality individuals always decide.
You were the selector of the young Croatian national teams. Did you have the desire to become a football coach?
"I started my coaching career after I stopped playing, while at the same time fighting for my own health. I was the coach of the Olympic team of Yugoslavia together with Pižon and Karasi, but then, unfortunately, what happened with the country. It was a great generation - Bokšić, Stević, Jugović, Ivić, Džoni Novak, Saveljić, Vučević, Leković, Englaro... I am also proud to have participated in the formation of young Croatian footballers who later became famous in Europe and the world. Regardless, I'm fulfilled in terms of the satisfaction of those guys' careers and I don't think about what would have been.
Why can't Hajduk in Croatia reach the level of Dinamo?
"Hajduk has no continuity in the management of the profession, that is a very important situation in football. Hajduk is a really special club and has what almost no one has - these are its fans, who are the driving force, who are with the team with their soul and heart and everything to play in the third league. Nevertheless, I hope that Hajduk will receive the title that it has been waiting for for so many years, I believe that it is on the right track lately, regardless of some result fluctuations.
What do you think about the chances of Croatia and Serbia at the World Cup, as the only ex-Yu countries participating? Who is your favorite to win the world title?
"Croatia continuously plays big tournaments, and it is to be expected that it will continue, we have a good team. Serbia is finally in the place it deserves, I congratulate Pixi on this occasion, he is the right man for the coach. He created a team that knows what it wants, something was always missing before. I remember Pižon, I once asked him how it was that Serbia lost four points in two matches against one Estonia, even though they had a better team. These are some of the questions Pixi found answers to. I believe that both Croatia and Serbia will pass the groups and that is already a success in itself. Later, the game can be determined by a moment of inspiration, inspiration, motive, a move by a grandmaster... When it comes to a favorite to win - I don't have one. You always have national teams that have failed in everything but the title, such as Argentina, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Spain, England... But let's remember that nobody gave Croatia a great chance before the World Cup in Russia and we reached the final. Furthermore, for the first time the championship is played in the 11th and 12th months, it will be interesting how the teams will adapt to the weather.
The gathering in Ulcinj will send a message of unity
What do you expect from the upcoming event in Ulcinj? Can you tell us the essence of the story of your book and documentary film in a few sentences?
"First, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the great man and well-known businessman from Ulcinj, Pavlo Pepđonović, who initiated and organized everything. He is a fan of Hajduk, as was his father. That's how we met after a Hajduk match in Split, we had lunch and that's how it started. The gathering of football legends from the former Yugoslavia in Ulcinj from November 11 to 14 will send a message of unity to the wider community. These are players who achieved impressive playing and coaching careers, and the message for young people is to look up to them, their attitude towards football but also towards life, because it was an honor for all of us to play for the national team. It will also be a unique opportunity to get to know the beauty, tradition and history of Ulcinj, which some of us have never been to. When it comes to the book and the movie, I want to say that it is my life story that carries with it a strong message, especially for younger generations. I was at the peak of my playing career when I had to retire due to illness. Through the book and the film, I try to explain how to get up again after your dreams have been crushed and continue the second part of your life story. I want to say that when you find your own strength, faith in yourself, when you attract positive and not negative things, you can conquer everything, even the most serious illness.
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