Thanks Yugo, i'm assuming you were able to get your hands on an authentic Montenegro jersey?

Regarding the first two qualifiers, i think both games will be tough. Wales have Craig Bellamy and Gareth Bale, while Bulgaria have the two Petrov's and Bojinov, but we have played against both sides before and got positive results for the most part. Obviously having Jovetic out for the first four games is a huge blow, but we showed against Northern Ireland that we can play well and win at the same time without him. I believe there will be the inclusion of a few young players in the first eleven that will include Stefan Savic, Zarko Tomasevic and Ivan Fatic, all who have done great for the U-21's in the past year or so. I will remain optimistic and hope for second place as i think Zlatko Kranjcar is an experienced coach and that we do have a side with quality, but we have to translate the many draws we had during the World Cup Qualifiers into wins during this campaign.

Also, i too am undecided on where im going to watch the game against England as well, most likely at home with my father, but i won't rule out going to an English pub and pissing some English supporters off just yet roud: I have also heard there will be a number of people from Montenego that will make the trip to London :thumbsup:

 

My sister managed to actually get one of the last remaining CG jerseys in Elmag Square right where you said it would be. She also got me a pair of shorts, too! I have you to thank for that! I'll post pics once I get my hands on that jersey

We beat Wales in the past, but I don't think Bale was playing for them at the time. Bellamy is pretty good, but Bale could potentially rip us apart. Bulgaria will be tough, but we should've beat them at home in WC qualifiers. Berbatov is retired too so that's one less thorn in our side. You are right though, Antivari, we must win more games if we want 2nd. Draws instead of losses are ok, but not draws instead of wins.

Nice to hear there will be a contingent of Montenegrins at Wembley.

 

Fantastic, i was worried that i might have given the wrong information because i've never been to the store myself, but im glad to hear your sister was able to find it. I was able to get a couple of decent knock offs in Bar that i will post pictures of, they're nothing special, but it's better than nothing.

 

Oh yeah, much better than nothing.

I guess we can compare jerseys then!

 

So tomorrow is the big day, our first ever European Championship qualifier against Wales in Podgorica. Some team news to report on, apparently Fatos Beciraj and Drasko Bozovic have been excused from the A team to join the U-21's for our last qualifier away to Israel. Although Nikola Drincic had been called up, he is still not fully recovered from his injury and will not be available while Dejan Damjanovic has been a no show due to negotiations he is involved in at the moment with his club from Korea.

The line up for game was released today and it goes like this, Bozovic in goal, Pavicevic, Basa, Dzudovic, Jovanovic in defense, Zverotic, Pekovic, Boskovic and Vukcevic in the midfield and Vucinic and Djalovic in attack.

Wales coach John Toshack has been playing mind games the past few days with some of his statements such as "They are very talented but sometimes their mentality lets them down, "There is no in between with them. If you give them a sniff and they are on top of the game, they can be world-beaters.

"They used to call the old Yugoslavs the Brazil of Europe. But they can drop their heads a little bit if things starts to go against them, they are that kind of mentality. "

He has even said that he is suspicious of the assigned referee who happens to be Greek saying, "The referee we know is just a couple of hundred yards breakstroke down the river from here - Corfu.

"The Montenegrins and Greeks over the years have a terrific relationship together so we'll wait and see."

It seems like Toshack is already searching for excuses in case his team loses.

Either way, i expect a good crowd tomorrow and a strong performance by our team, Zlatko Kranjcar has said that he wants no other result than a win. I'm hoping for the best...AJMO CRNA GORO,OOOOO!!!

 

Toshack is playing the mind games because we've already beaten them once. There is a lot more on the line tomorrow, however.

I WOULD LOVE A WIN! AJMOOOO!

 

Toshack alm:

:nono:

 

Comments by Zlatko Kranjcar yesterday at his press conference.

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YES!!! Three points to start off the campaign, 1-0 with Vucinic getting the goal. What a frantic end to the game, in the last five minutes Wales hit crossbar and had a goal called offside, they really put pressure on us and had most of the possession in the second half, but we stuck with it and gave everything tonight. Mirko was absolute class while the back four was solid. So happy to see us get off to great start, hopefully we can a positive result in Bulgaria.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=299303&cc=5901

 

:happy:

Awesome way to start the campaign! Great to hear that Mirko was class and same with the back 4. Sounds like we finally had some luck go our way, too!

 

bravo momci idemo naprijed! Vucinic was class like always, shame joveta is out.. Defence acted ok, specially in the air. Midfield was ok in first half but less good in the second.
Beciraj had a great chance to score at the end. Very good win and iam hoping for a positive performance in Bulgaria.

 

Yeah, the defense has definitely improved compared to the days of Batak and Tanasijevic in central defense... i thought Dzudovic did a really good job on Bellamy. Boskovic to me was the weakest player on the field and Beco should've buried that chance to finish the game off at the end, but i think he panicked and wasn't sure what to do, go around the keeper or chip it over him, in the end he just ran into him. I would be happy with a draw in Bulgaria. Here are some highlights of the game.

[tub]H1DH9g62ETs[/tub]

 

Was Lenin reffing the game p?

As long as Mirko keeps getting chances, he will score. The offense looked pretty good in the those highlights. Mirko's goal was CLASS.

As for Bulgaria, they'll want to redeem themselves for their terrible game in England, so they'll be coming out hard. A draw would be okay, but I want a WIN!

 

Bellamy: Montenegro's 'streetwise' tactics cost us
ESPN Soccernet

Craig Bellamy believes Montenegro's "streetwise" approach cost Wales as they went down to a 1-0 defeat in Friday's Euro 2012 qualifier.

Roma striker Mirko Vucinic scored the only goal of the game at the Stadion Pod Goricom in a match in which referee Anastassios Kakos - from nearby Greece - was considered a controversial appointment.

Miodrah Dzudovic remained on the pitch despite an apparent elbow on James Collins and, while Bellamy is not blaming any decisions for the defeat, he feels Montenegro did all they could to ensure they got the right result.

"I think they were very clever and I think they were very clever in the two days prior as well," he said. "They have been very streetwise and credit to them for that.

"They have been very clever to get a referee from Corfu, 20 odd minutes away - incredible. When we play Montenegro at home will we have an Irish or a Scottish referee? Of course not.

"But we didn't lose the game because of that, so there are no sour grapes. At the end of the day Montenegro won and that's the end of that."

He added: "Whether we deserved to lose or not, we have still started the group with no points. It's not unfamiliar territory because we've been down this road for a number of years.

"Starting a group with a win doesn't half give you confidence going into the rest of the games, but I've started a number of groups with losses, so as always the next game is another big one."

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=820844&sec=euro2012&cc=5901

Didn't know Greece was 20 minutes away :howler:!

The Greeks are close by for sure but it's not like a Serb was appointed by UEFA to referee the match. Bellamy says there's no sour grapes but it sounds like there is a little bit left.

 

Stupid comments that shouldn't be taken seriously. I don't understand why Bellamy even has to mention that the referee was Greek when he says himself that they didn't lose because of him, he is just bitter because we outplayed them for the majority of the match and of course won the game. Not surprisingly too, today reports came out that John Toshack is about to step down as head coach of Wales.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12018_6359797,00.html

 

Some good and bad news to report on. Apparently two key players of Bulgaria, Chavdar Yankov and Stanislav Manolev won't be available for tomorrow's game, but the bad news is that Vucinic and Dzudovic have been listed as questionable and will be game time decisions. I think we can deal with Dzudovic being out as we have Savic as a decent back up, but Mirko is irreplaceable, hopefully he will come through.

http://fscg.co.me/201009061353/Vijesti-Selekcije/bugarska.html

 

HEy Antivariproud, does 2nd place go into playoffs in this group since it's smaller? I think Montenegro can definitely get 2nd place.

 

NO MIRKO NO PARTY!

Yeah LedZep, I'm pretty sure 2nd place teams go into the playoffs.

 

Here are videos of Zlatko Kranjcar's press conference in Sofia yesterday along with footage of our team in training and some of our supporters who made the trip to Bulgaria.

[tub]kkfTfLrpe5I[/tub]

[tub]KcqDxQIoPew[/tub]

[tub]SXbvwEhVqZE[/tub]

 

HUUUUUUUUGE WIN AGAINST BULGARIA!!! 1-0 with Zverotic getting the fantastic goal in the first half. Mladen Bozovic and the defense were impeccable! Judging by the first 20 minutes of the game, it didn't look like it would be our night, Bulgaria had almost all of the possession, but we stuck with it and gradually got back into the game. Zverotic scored from pretty much nothing, Mirko was looking to take a shot but a Bulgarian defender poked the ball straight to Zverotic who unleashed the game winning strike. Second half was a different story, we played our game and put Bulgaria under pressure, they looked like a team with no ideas at all and lacking a player like Berbatov. Don't know what else to day, this is dream land...6 points from the first two games. Bring on the Swiss!

 

Congrats guys, great start! :thumbsup:

 

Thank you Krle!

Here is Elsad's goal, i will post full match highlights once they become available.

[tub]lnO_u45DYzE[/tub]

 

YESSSSSSSS!

6 points in two games is awesome! We have already grown a lot as a team since the WC qualifiers, and that maybe has to do with the coaching change.

I think the Swiss will be tough next match, but for now, let's be happy with another win!

 

haha great result bravo zverota bravo Crna gora

 

Congratulations, hopefully you'll finish 2nd

 

Hah, looks like we might have big match coming up at Wembley. Would be something if we had 9 points going into that game.

 

http://extrasportal.blogspot.com/2010/09/bulgaria-vs-montenegro-01.html
goal

Congrats Montenegro