The "lions" are getting ready to deal with the big man: The united brothers attack Spain

From the special reporter "Vijesti"

When you approach the "Novotel" hotel in Krakow, the first thing you see are the panels advertising the World Cup in Poland and Sweden, and then as soon as you walk through the front door you are "welcomed" by the Montenegrin handball players.

The tiredness on their faces was visible, because they had little sleep due to the early flight from Doha to Warsaw, from where they continued to the city on the banks of the Vistula, but you could also see the enthusiasm and impatience before the start of a new big competition.

Tomorrow at 20.30:28 p.m., at the opening of the XNUMXth Planetary Championship, Zoran Roganović's team will face one of the biggest handball superpowers, Spain, in the "Tauron Arena".

The Spaniards are the favorites for the medal, having won them in the last four major competitions, but the Lions believe they can challenge them, maybe even surprise them.

The great asset of Montenegro in the last few years is the great goalkeeper Nebojša Simić, who will play with his younger brother Božidar in the second major competition in a row.

"Somehow I have the feeling that Spain is always underestimated, because when the favorites for the gold are mentioned, they always talk about Denmark and France, and we know that the Spaniards took two golds and a silver each at the last four European championships. They are very unpleasant, they play together for a long time, they join forces to get each new player into the system as quickly as possible. It won't be easy for us, but it's good to play the first game with them, because they know how to open the championship more slowly, to get along later. We'll see when the game starts how realistic it is to expect a positive result," says the goalkeeper, who celebrates his 30th birthday in eight days.

After the European Championship in Hungary and Slovakia, where Montenegro won 11th place, several players changed clubs. The period of adaptation did not go very well for some, but the older of the Simić brothers hopes that it will be an additional motivation for them.

"Many players made a breakthrough in their clubs, but some did not manage in new environments. I hope that they will have a willing moment, to prove that they deserve more minutes in their teams".

"Lions" have never met the giant from the Pyrenees, who under the command of the great specialist Giordi Ribera is playing outstandingly. There is no shame in admitting that the rival will ask more...

"It will also depend on how Spain enters the match, not only on us. "They play good defense, they have two very high-quality goalkeepers, and we will need concentration and good execution to score a large number of goals," explained Simić.

In addition to Spain, rivals in Group A include Chile and Iran. As three selections advance to the main stage, it is clear that Roganović's team can hardly miss a place among the 24 best national teams in the world, but then hell awaits them, because the opponents will be France, Poland and Slovenia (if Saudi Arabia does not create a sensation).

Despite such a difficult road, some "lions" between the lines announce a fight for the quarterfinals, but the goalkeeper of the German Melzungen "drops the ball".

"We were lucky in the draw for the group in the first stage, but not in the crossover, because the French, Slovenians, Poles will come to us... We know that the French and the Spanish are among the four main favorites for the title, and Poland is playing at home, it will be full hall, which is a big plus compared to everything. I would focus on the first next game, I would not make predictions, nor aim for the quarter-finals. I would be satisfied if we achieved two or three victories, if the chance for four opens up. That would be a phenomenal result, and if everything goes right to reach the quarter-finals, that would be great. However, it is not realistic to expect that".

Reality has always been more important than dreams, and she says that, after Spain, we must think of Iran and Chile.

"There have already been talks about whether we can reach the Top 8, whether we can surprise France, Poland..., but we also have teams that we haven't met so far. During the preparations, there was a complete focus on Spain, we did not get any information about Iran and Chile, nor did we watch the video, because our schedule in Qatar was also tight. If we had time, we might have gotten to know those two teams better, but even at the European Championship, we didn't prepare for the rivals earlier, we had a day to prepare. It was the same against Croatia, so we played the best match of the championship. It is very important that we open the championship well, and we have been together for many years and know what is whose job. We only make small changes to adapt to the opponents, but we have our system, which we should respect," concluded the fan favorite.

Reporting made possible by Lob