From the unforgettable downpour in Podgorica in March 2017 to the rain and strong winds in the Faroe Islands, the Montenegrin national football team has played a total of 161 matches.
There have been great victories, miracles like three draws against the great England, but also heavy defeats. However, it seems that the 161st was the hardest, the best and the one that worries the most.
The "Falcons" were without wings, without play, will and desire in Torshavn, so the team that not so long ago was played by amateurs against ours looked like the best professional team in the world.
While the wind was "slapping" everyone on "Torsvolur", Montenegro received a slap that will leave their cheeks red for a long time - 4:0.
Although it is probably the biggest disaster in history, this defeat is not the most convincing that our national team has suffered since independence. There were other lessons from the "Lilliputians", the firecrackers, and even the "sevens"...
The first convincing defeats came from Bucharest and Sofia
The "Falcons" recorded their first convincing defeats in history against teams from this region - first in May 2008 against Romania in Bucharest (4:0), and a year later against Bulgaria (4:1) in Sofia.
The difference is that the team of then-coach Zoran Filipović was defeated by Adrian Mutu and his teammates in a friendly match, while the clash at "Vasil Levski" was a World Cup qualifier.
The duel with the Bulgarians was strange, our team took the lead with a Euro goal by Stevan Jovetić, had a few more chances in the first half, and then conceded a goal in stoppage time in the first 45 minutes and then sank in the second half.
From euphoria to Ukrainian "poker" and Moldova's "five"
In 2013, Montenegro was on the verge of playing in the play-offs in two qualifying cycles in a row - after the ones with the Czech Republic two years earlier in the Euro 2012 qualifiers, they had a match point against Ukraine in Gorica in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.
And, after the first 45 minutes, it was 0:0 and there were more players - the euphoria that shook our country at that time was even greater, but everything soon turned into a nightmare.
Andriy Yarmolenko and Yevhen Konoplyanka danced in our largest stadium, and the scoreboard in the end showed a difficult 0:4.
The chances for a play-off were dashed, and how difficult it was to come back after that defeat was shown in the following qualifying matches - a 4:1 defeat to England and especially a disaster in Gorizia against Moldova (5:2).
When Liechtenstein is also a problem
Branko Brnović survived those results, but he didn't have a bad game in the next round, during the Euro 2016 qualifiers. The shock came from Vaduz, where the "falcons" failed to beat Liechtenstein (0:0), despite 25 shots on goal and nine on target.
What an outsider this team from the microstate in the Alps is, is best illustrated by the fact that it is the only one against which the Faroe Islands had a more convincing victory - 5:1, but in a friendly match.
Vaduc was the announcement of the end of Brnović on the "Falcons" bench, and he was fired after the test match with North Macedonia, which he won 4:1.
Darkness on the temple of football, shock from Luxembourg
Montenegro has troubled giants England many times, but in the Euro 2020 qualifiers, they conceded a total of 12 goals and scored one in two matches.
"Gordi Albion" celebrated 5:1 at Gorica, although the "falcons" took the lead with a goal from Marko Vešović, while Faruk Hadžibegić's team was "crushed" at "Wembley" (7:0).
The expert from Bosnia and Herzegovina will be remembered as someone who led Montenegro to the B League of Nations, but during that competition they were defeated by Luxembourg (2:1) under Gorica. This selection is far from the role of outsider that Liechtenstein has, but it was certainly another debacle for our football.
In recent times, apart from the Faroe Islands, our national team has been defeated 4:0 twice - also in these qualifiers recently by Croatia, and four years ago by the Netherlands in Eindhoven.
Montenegro's heaviest defeats
Romania - Montenegro 4:0 (2008)
Bulgaria - Montenegro 4:1 (2009)
Montenegro - Ukraine 4:0 (2013)
England - Montenegro 4:1 (2013)
Montenegro - Moldova 5:2 (2013)
Liechtenstein - Montenegro 0:0 (2014)
S. Macedonia - Montenegro 4:1 (2015)
Montenegro - England 1:5 and 7:0 (2019)
Montenegro - Luxembourg 1:2 (2020)
Netherlands - Montenegro 4:0 (2021)
Croatia - Montenegro 4:0 (2025)
F. Islands - Montenegro 4:0 (2025)
Bonus video:
