From the special reporter "Vijesti"
The thirty-third match of Montenegrin handball players at major competitions was the 12th against world giants, i.e. selections that either came to those championships as current medal winners and big favorites, or grabbed them then. The closest to the sensation was in 2016 in Sopot, when the team was young Ljubomir Obradović almost created a miracle against Denmark, but missed the chance in the finish and lost 30:28.
They were somewhat close to a surprise again in Poland, because in the 1st round of the 28th World Cup in the "Tauron Arena" in Krakow, they resisted Spain for a long time, threatening it until eight minutes before the end, but then the difference in experience and quality surfaced .
"The Spaniards" celebrated 30:25, and everything could have been different if it weren't for the details that make the difference - lost balls, bad reactions after defenses Nebojše Simić, missed shots... The largest gap was made by the number of technical errors, because the "lions" had 18 of them, twice as many as the medal winners in the last four major competitions.
"We had great chances against such a big and powerful Spain, but from the very beginning something was not right. Not all players were involved 100 percent, I can immediately shift the blame to myself, because I made several mistakes, in certain moments and damaged my national team. I tried to give my best, but it seemed like it wasn't my day", he commented regretfully Miloš Vujović.
The best left wing of the previous European Championship missed the first three shots, and scored twice, both from the sevens. He struggled to find a rhythm against the rival's atypical and brilliant defense Gonzalo Perez de Vargas, just like his teammates.
"We fought for 60 minutes, but Spain still justified the role of favorites. She played the entire match to the maximum, with a very deep defense of 5:1, she made it difficult for us to score goals, because she separated the defenders at 10-15 meters, and the wings were stopped. It was difficult to outplay their defense. We have to forget the defeat as soon as possible and turn to the new game".
In big competitions, there is not much time to analyze what happened, because the next match is right away. For Montenegro, it will be tonight's duel with Iran, which celebrated against Chile on Thursday after a thriller in the end (25:24) and recorded the first victory in history in the first stage of the world championships.
Interestingly, he scored the first one against the Chileans in the battle for the 21st to 24th place at the World Cup in Qatar, and the "lions" also defeated the same team from South America at the World Championship in Spain in 2013. Now they will try to enroll in the first round as well...
"Iran and Veselin Vujović are our new opponents. We need to gather as much details and information as possible about them and to win these matches, which are the most important for us", said one of the three Vujovićs in our team.
The semi-finalist of the Asian Championship lost in the 1st round 23:20, but thanks to the excellent goalkeeper Mohamad Sijavoshi turned the final 25:24. The finish of that match was also watched live Zoran Roganović and his chosen ones.
"We entered about 10 minutes before the end, we saw that it was a fairly even fight between them and Chile. We expected Iran to win by a slightly bigger margin, but Chile showed that they are not a team to be underestimated. Everyone wants points, those two games will not be easy for us, but difficult until the very end, but I hope we will justify our role as favorites".
Although they were defeated by Spain at the start, and hellish duels with France, Poland and Slovenia await them in the main stage, the "lions" do not give up on their dream - a place in the quarterfinals, which would ensure their qualification for the Olympic Games in Paris.
"We have set high goals for this championship - we want to reach the quarterfinals, which would allow us to dream of the Olympic Games. We missed the first opportunity to reach that goal more easily, but from the next game we have to be much more concentrated and prepared, because it will be difficult. We know what we want, I hope that we will have more luck in certain moments", Miloš Vujović concluded.
And the second winger who started the match in the first line-up, Mirko Radovic, believes that Montenegro will play better as the championship progresses.
"We are at the world championships after a long time, it was a pleasure to play, and we played quite well. We held on almost until the very end, the final result is not even realistic. I am convinced that we will play the next game much better, because there is room for improvement", says the 32-year-old from Cetinje.
The captain of the Macedonian Eurofarm Pelister announces a fiery duel with the team from Asia.
"I expect a manly fight, a real fight." They are a fighting team, and the same can be said for us. Of course, we are going to win".
The Iranians got out of an almost hopeless situation in the 1st round and can now play more relaxed.
"In the finish they broke through and won, I think it will be an additional wind at their backs, but we shouldn't be interested in that." We will look at our game, our system and we will do our best. We have to pay attention, because they are led by our legendary expert Veselin Vujović, he will surely prepare some 'treat' for the handball world", pointed out Radović.
Reporting made possible by Lob
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