They deserved much more than zero before the last 60 minutes in Munich, but the lack of luck, rashness, and even certain refereeing decisions, made the knockout phase of the European Championship a dream this time.
The Montenegrin handball players will play against Serbia in the 3rd round of Group C tomorrow (Tuesday, 18 p.m.), and they will have something to fight for until the end of the Euros... At the end of the day, even if the last match of the championship has no result, it is hard to imagine that the captain Mirko Radović and his friends just played a game in a jersey with the Montenegrin coat of arms.
"We play every match for Montenegro as if it were the last in our lives, and it will be the same against Serbia," said Radović from the Bavarian capital.
And, a victory over Serbia would bring Montenegro the first hat before the barrage for the World Cup. On the other hand, Toni Gerona's team still has calculations to advance to the next stage of the European Championship.
"For us, the continuity of participation in major competitions is everything, we live from it, the cult of the national team is made from it, and therefore we will want to go for victory against Serbia in order to secure a more favorable place in the play-off, and also to say goodbye to championship. We will prepare the best and give everything to win," said Radović.
The "Lions" had a shot for a draw against Hungary and Iceland, but Branko Vujović and Vuko Borozan were unlucky.
"Emotions subsided a little, and it's simply unbelievable that after two games like that we don't have any points and that the first and last place in the group will be decided by one or two balls. We knew that the group would be hellish, but we were the ones who were unlucky ", added Montenegrin "number 13".
What could decide that at least one of these two matches went to the side of Montenegro?
"We will have a lot of time to analyze these two games, and now we still take care of the game we have left in the European Championship. But I said before that I am proud of these guys and it is an honor to be part of such a group that always presents in the right way Montenegro," emphasized Radović.
Hungary and Iceland are handball countries, both were favorites against the "lions", and in the end they barely managed to win.
"We put ourselves in a situation where we could win both games, but unfortunately we were left empty-handed - we showed character and that we can. And when we went to the championship, we promised that we wanted to show that we belong there," concluded Radović.
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