The young Montenegrin national football team shone tonight, beating Sweden in Podgorica and winning 2:0 in the second round of European Championship qualifiers.
A great night under Gorica, an evening that brings back hope after the recent results of the A selection in the World Cup qualifiers. The boys led by Goran Perišić outplayed the Scandinavian selection tonight and were ultimately rewarded for a great performance. The scorers were Viktor Đukanović in the 95th minute and Danilo Vukanić in the 99th minute.
"Congratulations to the boys, they were on fire, they gave their all from the first minute. If only they could continue like this and I'm not afraid of anything. All of this is a product for the A national team. Sweden has players from big European clubs, but the field is the only benchmark. We also have players - Đukanović, Perović, Perišić, Dakić, Kostić... they are all future A national team players," coach Goran Perišić told RTCG after the match.
The stands were not full tonight.
"I'm sorry there weren't more people. I want to thank the fans who came. I thank them from the bottom of my heart. I hope we can continue to play like this and fight for the national team jersey," said Perišić.
Montenegro lost away to Italy (2:1) in the first round after a turnaround, and tonight they knocked out another favorite. In the next round, on October 10, our team will play Poland.
"In the first three rounds we play against the favorites. I'm sorry we didn't take a point against Italy, but I can't fault the guys for anything. We had chances against Italy, we took the lead, then pulled back. Tonight we showed that we deserved that point against Italy. We're getting ready for the next match with Poland. The Poles are the favorites, but the field is the only criterion," said Perišić.
Viktor Đukanović is the future of the A national team, but also the present, as he has made four appearances for the senior team. And tonight he put the team in the lead with a goal.
"A stone fell from my heart. I think we played a terrible game, we showed how to fight for Montenegro. We had a lot of chances, we deserved to win. We were also lucky with my goal, but we deserved to be lucky, because we played the whole game as a team. We are a whole, we do not depend on individuals. We showed that we can fight together, you saw with the goals that we all celebrate. I am happy about the victory," Đukanović told RTCG.
Montenegro completely outplayed its rival.
"We knew it would be difficult, but we prepared ourselves. Sweden has players from Barcelona, Celtic... "but we gave them a football lesson. They had the ball but we were more threatening and deserved to win."
The captain of the youth team finally reflected on the senior team, which had been defeated by the Czech Republic (2:0) and Croatia (4:0) in recent days.
"We certainly showed tonight that we have quality. I'm sorry for the A team, for the defeats against the Czech Republic and Croatia. We are all one, we are fighting for Montenegro, for our people and for ourselves. I hope this will be the beginning of a winning streak for both sides," concluded Đukanović.
Bonus video:
