The Montenegrin national football team wants to play a good championship in Pajulahti and once again write the golden pages of Montenegrin sports for people with disabilities in that Finnish Olympic and Paralympic training center, said national team member Goran Macanović.
The Montenegrin national team traveled to Pajulahti via Istanbul and Helsinki and had its first training session today.
Macanović reminded that Montenegrin goalies won their first place in the A division four years ago in Pajulahti.
He pointed out that in their third appearance among the best European teams, they want to take a step forward and improve on their best placement so far at the A Division championships - seventh place in Samsun, Turkey.
"The Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Pajulahti is fortunate for us, four years ago we accomplished a great feat, winning a place in the A division. And that at a time when it was not expected because we arrived with four players. I hope that we will repeat that experience from four years ago at this championship," said Macanović.
He said that the atmosphere in the team is very good and that all the players are motivated and ready.
"We trained in the gym where we will play the championship and it showed that the team's form is at an enviable level. We are going game by game, to play the group well, so that we will have a slightly easier opponent in the knockout phase," said Macanović.
Speaking about the participants of the championship, he pointed out that there are no weak teams and that the ten best national teams in Europe are in Pajulahti.
"Everyone prepared and came with the greatest ambitions. I hope that our experience and quality will come to the fore, and I sincerely believe that Pajulahti will be our lucky one again," said Macanović.
Montenegro will play in a group with Ukraine, Israel, Germany and Portugal at the championship, which will officially begin on Wednesday.
Montenegro, like at the championship in Podgorica, will open the tournament with a duel against Ukraine on October 1st.
A day later, they will meet Portugal, while on October 3 they will play two matches - against Germany and Israel.
The four best teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinals.
The quarterfinal and semifinal matches are scheduled for October 4th, while the finals are scheduled for the following day, as well as the matches for third, fifth, seventh and ninth place.
Montenegrin goalball will be represented at the Finnish Olympic and Paralympic Training Center by Marko and Nikola Nikolić, Miloš Ranitović, Goran Macanović and Velizar Obradović, led by coach Nikola Čurović and his assistant Branislav Bulatović. The delegation also includes team manager Milo Kastratović.
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