The ticket for the quarterfinals of the European Championship and going to the World Cup in Doha in the last seconds of the match with Croatia slipped out of the hands of the Montenegrin water polo players, so our national team will have to go through an additional 32 minutes to reach the goal.
And, the rival of the "sharks" in the playoffs will be Germany - tomorrow (Wednesday) from 20.15:XNUMX at the Sava pool in Zagreb.
"For us, the European Championship starts now - with matches in which you have no right to fail," said Montenegro coach Vladimir Gojković.
The duel in Gruž is still on my mind" - Montenegro defeated the European champions with a heroic play with one player less during the last two minutes, after a disallowed goal by Đur Radović 19 seconds before the end and after penalty kicks, but to go directly to the eight, they needed a victory during 32 minutes.
"Everything that has happened so far should be used to lift us up to the best possible extent, but we should remain calm and prepare first of all for Germany and only think about it," added Gojković.
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If there are no surprises against Germany, the "sharks" will face Italy in the quarter-finals.
"We need to get past Germany, I definitely think we are the favorites," Gojković is clear.
Montenegro also has a bad memory of tomorrow's rival, since in 2009 it was somewhat sensationally eliminated from the World Cup by Germany as the European champion. After that there were no more problems.
"They have certain individual points that we need to close, and in general, if we are at the level of the game with the last two matches in the group, we should solve that game in our favor without any major problems," concluded Gojković.
The Sharks will be weakened in the future - Vlado Popadić was banned for two games for "brutality" against Croatia, while center Vladan Spajić will also miss Germany because he received a red card for complaining from the bench to the referees.
"It certainly won't be easy, but it's also certain that we have a quality team that can make up for their absences. We're the favorites, we're not running away from that role, but we'll have to take the Germans as seriously as possible," says the captain and goalkeeper of our team, Petar Tešanović.
If everything goes according to plan, Montenegro could finally have a slightly easier match at the championship.
"I hope that we will succeed and rest the main players, given that there was a lot of spending in the last two games," concluded Tešanović.
EP 2024 - Zagreb
Play-offs
Wednesday
18.30 France - Serbia
20.15:XNUMX p.m. Montenegro - Germany
Thursday
17.00 Georgia - 1D
19.00h Greece - 2D
Quarterfinals
Spain - Georgia/2D
Italy - Montenegro/Germany
Hungary - France/Serbia
Croatia - Greece/2D
Bonus video:
