The "Lions" are back, in grand style - the Montenegrin handball team won a huge point against Hungary in Tatabánya (29:29), against a team that was one step away from the semifinals at the recent World Championship.
With an away draw, Didier Dinar's men took a decisive step towards the European Championship, but also showed that the painful elimination by Italy last year is a thing of the past.
"Against Hungary we played very poorly for the first and a half, I mean primarily defensively and in goalkeeping, but in the second there was such a surge of energy... Honestly, it was hard to expect us to play like this," he said. Nebojsa Simic from Tatabanja.
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Montenegro was down five points in the second half (26:21), but came back and even led...
"There was a slight decline, they broke away, but even at minus five we believed we could take the points and that's a really fascinating thing when you're so behind that you believe against a team like Hungary. Really just proud of the guys," added the Montenegrin goalkeeper.
Simić started the match weakly, but after Nikola Matović allowed him to rest, he showed his class once again. After the big point, he emphasized that Montenegro played great even without several players.
"We have a small group of players and as soon as we miss someone, we immediately feel it. It took a little time for the others to fill those gaps and what's pleasing is that as the games went on, they got better and better... I'm happy and proud, and this point is also important for our mentality," says Simić.
Radojica Čepić He played for Montenegro in the back line with Branko Vujović and Stefan Čavor.
"From the beginning, we believed that we could play Hungary, even though they are an excellent team. We gave it our all, it didn't matter what the result was at any given moment, we always gave it our all and we managed to get a point," said Čepić and made a clear statement:
"There is still room for improvement, we still have to work to make everything even better... We need time to adjust and I think things will get better in the future."
Luka Radovic was again unerring from seven meters, and scored an important goal in the final moments when everything was decided.
"We played at our best from the first minute, and there were some technical errors. I think there was room for a win, but this is also a huge point," said the Montenegrin right winger.
Four days ago, the "lions" were defeated by the same rival in the M:tel Hall "Morača".
"There is still regret about the match in Podgorica, but we move on - we won a big point against a team that has been playing at a high level in recent years. I would like to congratulate my teammates. We showed that we can play against teams like Hungary, but also at the last European Championship - when we fight, we give our best and with the defense of Simić and Nikola Matović, we can do anything," concluded Radović.
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