There are two days left until the first match of the Montenegrin national handball team at the European Championship. The "Lions" have traveled to Oslo, where they will be part of the continental competition for the seventh time in a row, and the eighth time in history.
Montenegro will play its Group D matches in Norway, which is hosting the championship along with Denmark and Sweden from January 15 to February 1. The rivals in the group are the Faroe Islands, Switzerland and Slovenia, with whom Didier Dinar's team will play their first match of the championship on Friday (18). On Sunday (18) they will play against the Faroes, and on January 20 they will play against Switzerland.
The focus is on the first match, Slovenia arrived in Norway weakened, and our national team's fullback, Stevan Vujović, points out that the "lions" are ready to achieve a good result.
"Slovenia is always at the top, has exceptional individuals, plays modernly, has a good coach and coaching staff. But we are also ready to show good success this time. The first match is not decisive. We have two more matches after that. If we screw up against Slovenia, we have two more make-up matches. But we focused on that first match and that's how we trained," said Vujović.
After Slovenia, there are duels with the Faroe Islands and Switzerland.
"Everyone will perform at their best in the first game. The opponents are of equal quality, that first day will be intense, and in the second and third matches there will be calculations. But we will definitely go for the win," added Vujović.
The upcoming European Championship will be the first major competition for pivot, Admir Pelidija.
"The group is such that there are no favorites. Slovenia is playing great with this lineup, and can cause a lot of problems in any system. I don't know if it's good for them that they have a lot of injured players, but we have to focus only on ourselves. We're going for the win on Friday," said Pelidija.
Two teams from Group D advance to the main stage and cross over with teams from Groups E and F to form a new group from which two teams advance to the semi-finals.
Group E includes Sweden, Croatia, the Netherlands and Georgia, and Group F includes Hungary, Iceland, Poland and Italy.
Bonus video:
