The group at the European Championship is difficult, and the goal is to qualify for the main stage - the first reactions of Montenegrin handball players Đurđina Jauković and Ivana Godeč, after today's draw for the EHF Euro.
"Lavice" will play in group B at the upcoming continental championship, and the rivals are Romania, Serbia and the Czech Republic. Two selections will advance to the main stage.
Montenegro opens the tournament with a match against Serbia on November 29, two days later Romania is the rival, and the Czech Republic on December XNUMX.
"We got a difficult group in which there are no outsiders. We know all three teams very well, because we had the opportunity to play against them in the last two years. We recently had two duels with Serbia in the qualifiers for this championship, while the Czech Republic was a rival in the match for seventh place at the last World Championship in December. We had a great clash with Romania at the previous European Championship, when we won in Skopje, won a place in the semi-finals, and later got a medal", are the first impressions of Đurđina Jauković after the draw.
The Nikšić woman is recovering from an injury that caused her to miss the previous Olympic qualification tournament in Ulm.
"It will be difficult, but we will go step by step. The first goal is to qualify for the main round and transfer as many points as possible, after that we will make further plans," said Jauković.
The group in which Montenegro is in the main phase crosses with groups A (Sweden, Hungary, North Macedonia and Turkey) and C (France, Spain, Poland and Portugal).
"We have received perhaps the most difficult group, in which there are teams that we know very well and in which there is no obvious favorite, nor outsider. It is good that we know all the rivals very well, because that experience will be of great importance to us in the preparation of the matches. We played with Serbia recently in the qualifiers, against the Czech Republic at the last World Cup, and we also remember well the duel against Romania in Skopje, in which we achieved a victory that brought us to the semi-finals of the EHF Euro 2022. Romania is now without Neag and that certainly changes things significantly, because we know how much she meant to the national team and what her cooperation was like with the pivot Pinte", believes Ivana Godeč.
If the "lionesses" are complete, everything will be much easier.
"Nevertheless, we are focused on us, it is important that we are complete, and when Đurđina Jauković returns to us, I believe that everything will be much easier, because it was seen how much we lacked in the Olympic qualification tournament. The first goal is the main round and we want to let's transfer as many points as possible, because at the previous EHF Euro 2022, we saw how important it is to make a big result," said the Buducnosti handball player.
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