If they want to preserve their chances for first place in the qualifying group for the European Championship, Montenegrin handball players have nothing to calculate - a victory over Hungary in Tatabanja is a must, but it is clear to everyone how difficult a task Didier Dinar's team has in the match that will be played today at 17.30:XNUMX p.m.
The Hungarians showed their strength on Wednesday at the "M:tel Morača Hall" when they celebrated 29:26 - they justified their role as favorites in a game in which Montenegro had a huge desire to prevent it, but whenever the final blow was to be struck, there was a mistake in attack or a lapse in defense.
With a desire that has never been in dispute among our handball players - now an almost perfect match is required.
- We want to get revenge for the defeat in "Morača", because it was a tough loss for us. The hall was full, the fans were phenomenal, but we didn't succeed this time either and we really don't want to lose the cult of our hall as an impregnable fortress, but in the previous few matches we couldn't get any points - says goalkeeper Nikola Matović, referring to the fact that Montenegro has lost in its last four games in "Morača".
However, Montenegro is on the right track...
- We cannot talk about it as a debacle and failure. We know that Hungary is a serious national team, we know how much they invest in handball. Again, when compared to us, they are still at a higher level in terms of organization, but for the national team you always have to give 101 percent and we hope that in Tatabanja we can achieve a feat and win - Matović emphasized.
The Hungarians played their game in “Morača”, Montenegro did not.
- I think we had a lot of problems when we were passive, when we didn't "pull" the fast center. The Hungarians have a phenomenal central block from two to five, they have really big players, it's not easy to get past them one on one, they have excellent cooperation - goalkeeper and block, so a lot of our forced shots were either outside the goal frame or into the goalkeeper, so I think that in this upcoming game we need to attack a little wider, to set up pivots when Fazekaš and Leka fail to replace each other - says Matović.
It's a technical and tactical part, but the "lions" want to be better than their opponents in terms of energy.
- I think we could definitely "beat" them a little more because Rošta played hard and scored nine goals. The Hungarian defenders are very good, if we let them get inside the nine meters they will certainly not hesitate to shoot. So we have to play a little harder and more lively, so that every time they attack us they think about whether it is worth it for them - Matović is clear.
Pivot Miodrag Ćorsović also believes that Montenegro can do better, but that it will be less burdened in Tatabanja than in Podgorica.
- We all believe that we can fight back. No one is comfortable after four consecutive defeats in “Morača”, which was unconquerable for 12 years. This latest defeat hurts us, but we will try to correct the shortcomings from that game and go for the win. We have prepared some tactical ideas, but the Hungarians have top players and it is not easy for us to play against their defenders - they are corpulent and very strong. We will fight like against everyone, perhaps our advantage will be the relief because in Podgorica it was obvious that we were a little swallowed up by the pressure that we imposed on ourselves. We made a large number of technical mistakes. In Hungary we need to be calm, we are certainly in a good position when it comes to qualifying for the European Championship - emphasized the sturdy pivot, one of the successors of Nemanja Grbović, who retired from the national team.
- We know who was in this position before us, how good the players were - Nemanja, Vuk Lazović, all the others who came before that. Grbović raised the bar very high, we will try to reach that level - concluded Ćorsović.
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