If the first defeats in "Morača" after more than a decade (against Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) came too early to draw conclusions, and the good games at the European Championship and especially the victory over Serbia made it possible to get the wrong picture, the first match the barrage with Italy was the best confirmation that the "lions" are far from the right system, continuity in the game...
Montenegrin handball players were defeated by Italy with 32:26 in the first match of the playoffs to go to the World Championship and in Podgorica on Sunday from 17.30:XNUMX they will have to "fix" everything if they want to justify their role as favorites and win the tenth major competition in history.
Can the "lions" melt minus six from Konversan? Their quality is such that they could do it against much stronger teams than "Azure", but perhaps an even more important question is whether such a turnaround would make all problems disappear, to be the announcement of the games that befits the class of handball players they are. Branko i Miloš Vujović, Nemanja Grbović, Nebojsa Simic...
- This is not even a shadow of what we can play - said the selector Vlado Shola after the game in the south of Italy.
This is exactly the feeling of the majority who have been following our national team lately - Montenegro has never had a generation with so much talent, but also that the big step forward from the European Championship two years ago (11th place) was not used in the right way...
It is obvious that since Šola became the coach (he made his debut in March last year with a defeat against Slovenia), many strange things have followed the "lions" - from the defeat against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Podgorica, through the confusing time-out in the match with Hungary during the Euros, to the important victory over Serbia, and yet an unexpectedly convincing defeat by Italy.
In addition to all that, the selector managed to spoil relations with two standard national team members Bož Anđelić i Miloš Božović, and in Konversan it was more than obvious that Anđelić would be injured in his absence Radojice Čepića meant a lot at center back.
This is how Shola had to improvise with Vuk Borozan i Vasilij Kaluđerović, players for whom it is not an ideal position, while the only real center back was a debutant - Filip Krivokapić.
It is necessary to be realistic and underline that the "lions" started with weaker games even before the arrival of Vlad Šola - at the World Championships in Poland and Sweden, the quarter-finals and placement in the Olympic qualifiers were announced, and in the end only two victories arrived (in six matches ) and that with a lot of trouble against outsiders Iran and Chile.
The then selector Zoran Roganović he said that he failed, that his word was more important than anything else, and retired from the national team bench.
Šola arrived instead of him, a reaction was expected, a step forward, but one victory at the European Championship and one in the previous qualifiers certainly did not bring that.
The numbers are sometimes harsh, and they say that the Croatian expert led Montenegro to eight competitive matches, and suffered six defeats and recorded only two victories - against Kosovo and Serbia.
On Sunday, everyone expects a third and a more convincing than six difference, and if it comes either Šola will have to change something or the Handball Association of Montenegro will do it.
Bonus video:
