The handball team of Montenegro gathered yesterday, while on January 13th, the European championship will start with a match against Germany. Selektor Dragan Djukic talked about ambitions, opponents, preparations, but also his life in Romania and the league there, which is very uncertain.
Mr. Djukic is now practically ten days before the start of the championship, what are the expectations, and above all the wishes and dreams?
– As usual, in the handball we are the first of all athletes to go to official competitions, so the time for some great celebrations and celebrations is almost gone. Everywhere around us the atmosphere of the upcoming competition is greatly felt so that we can say that we spend the holidays in the atmosphere of candlelight anticipation! The European Championship is in its turn, and the toughest handball competition, because quality (especially in men’s hand) is fully concentrated in the European Selections, so each match, every ball and goal in the competition will have special significance.
As far as we are concerned, we are waiting for us to enjoy, the competition for which we have won the heart, and all the wishes stand in one, to present ourselves in Croatia in the best light and to make sports lovers in Montenegro, and also to ourselves proud that we are part of one such a sporting event. There is no pressure on us, even when we are talking about going to the second round as some basic goal, but nobody can take away our right to hope and dreams because this team has shown that it deserves trust and has a future.
You will have some time to prepare, especially for training, is it that you are afraid of having problems because of the fact that you have been working with this team for a relatively long time?
– What I have to point out when discussing this sensitive issue is that preparations for the European Championship started for us already after we in Moscow in the same historical game opposed Russia and successfully endured all the pressure she carried. Already in the October EHF Sunday, we started with concrete work, so that the days ahead are only the final final upgrade for the matches that we expect. I keep repeating that from the very beginning we had a strategy, a plan, when will we, how and what to do, so that you can be sure that the beginning of the European Championship and the match with Germany will be fully and completely ready, and I would add my own desire, to be healthy.
Montenegro is a team that will not retire even before which rival, and regardless of the result of the championship, the success has already been achieved by the participation itself, because we are real group is extremely difficult, make it the current champion of Europe Germany, officially the third selection of the world – Slovenia and Macedonia which, with exceptional quality and experience of participating in big competitions, has a frenetic atmosphere and the support of the entire country, because handball is definitely the number one!
What is the plan, are the players already getting the material, are they ready for the start of the preparations?
– All rivals, their good and less good sides are on the scanner and all players have already received individual instructions for work as well as sufficient initial information about opponents. That final glaze is just waiting for us, and the joint preparations with the host Croatia will help us to feel in advance the atmosphere of the great competition that comes and thereby raise the motivation to the highest possible level. I really believe that this team has a special atmosphere between the players and one relationship of complete trust in the relationship between professional staffs, and I think it gives a new, additional quality to everything we do. In short, be sure that we will be maximum prepared for the competition, but also that at the time of mass communication and general globalization, there are no big secrets and that the rivals are almost familiar. As an illustration, I would like to point out that the German Technical Staff has already proposed to mutually change the video materials from our preparatory games, but also that small „Balkan games“ have already begun through the statements of the actors and printers in the press … But all this is part of a great the competition that awaits us, so it is even more important that we all together have complete trust in one another and that we are not crushing anything and turning away from the road that we started.
You will have this friendly match with the Croats, but you have already sparred with them on the Croatie Cup, how much can it help in preparing for the championship?
– Croatia is not only because it is an organizer, and we all know the importance of the home court in handball, but in everything that has given it a world handball in the past twenty years, one of the biggest favorites for the very top at the upcoming European championship. The return of the trophy trainer, the maximum motivation of all the players, the quality, organization and structure of the game, are all indisputable to the quality of the Croatian team, and handball was and is the pride of the Croatian nation and sport. It is our pleasure that we will be guests of such a team and have the opportunity to take the field with them, but also to train together and feel the „smell“ of the upcoming competition. Of course, the result in this match is of no primary importance, and we must remember here that a year ago with the same rival we played in a completely different atmosphere on the Croation Cup – then almost without the chances of being part of the EP in 2018! Therefore, today for all of us, such a call is a privilege and we will try to use it in the best possible way.
With us, the duel of Serbia and Croatia is always with special attention, what do you think are the Serbs in the group stage to surprise?
– Honestly, someone in the EHF chose a more attractive start to the competition hard to be able to choose better! The duels of Croatia and Serbia in Split, along with everything they carry with me, announce one of the high quality and fairly uncertain championships – from the world champion of France and the European champion of Germany, through the upcoming superstars of Norway, Swede and the aforementioned Slovenians, and the „eternal“ candidates for medals of Danes and Spaniards and great Croatia, the list of candidates for medals seemed never to be longer. The selection of Serbia is a team of great potential, but also a team with a new structure and a selector, which certainly has the quality to find in the second phase of the championship, even perhaps a bit more than that, but we are witnessing that each competition brings some surprise, so we can be sure So it will be this time too.
What is life in Romania, are you satisfied after Tel Aviv?
– If I would answer your question in two words, I would say: Totally different! Handball is a sport of exceptional tradition in Romania, and this year’s championship is one of the strongest and most exciting in the last few years. The halls are full, television broadcasts even four matches in each round, and over 70 internationals, mostly members of the national teams from the countries from which they come, have raised the league’s quality so it is almost impossible to predict the results of matches in advance. On the other hand, life in a world metropolis such as Tel Aviv and all that provides and life in small Odorhee certainly varies a bit differently, but the ambition that I was wearing with a group of great guys who made „Maccabi“ Tel Aviv in Last season we achieve some absolutely fantastic results in European and domestic competitions is the same! Some basic ambition is that Odorhey will find this year in the very end of the play off, among the four places that guarantee participation in European competitions next year, and the team I have at their disposal and the energy that surrounds us are the reason to honestly and believe that it’s real and possible
The league is pretty interesting, you’re at the top, but seven teams are here in a few points?
– The characteristic of this year’s competition is almost absolute uncertainty! Steaua deservedly finished the first part at the forefront because it was the most standard, but Timisoara Pere Milosevic and Marko Lasica showed that the team was ready to intercede in the fight for the trophy itself. CSM, along with Konstac, has one of the strongest teams in the league (Stevan Vujovic plays a great season and Mladen Rakcevic is a good standard), while from the last year’s winner of the double crown – the Bucharest Dinamo was expected more, as the group stage competition left a mark on their scores in home league. With Kalaras, where Vuk Lazovic plays an excellent, very solid team of Turda and Odorhei who lead the list of 8 players play-off is already completed. In the second part of the season, there will be a fight for each goal, each point and the better position that brings the advantage of the decisive match on the home court, but now I can say that the uncertainty will be complete who will be rivals, because the differences between all small and decisive shades. In any case, handball enthusiasts will be on the winning side because they will have a super-intriguing finish and I would definitely want the team I lead in it to play a significant role.
