The loss to Hungary will linger in memory, but it won’t sting too much if the Montenegrin handball team secures a spot in the main phase of the 16th European Championship.

The “lions” had several opportunities, missing a chance for a draw and ultimately conceding defeat.

“I must commend the players; they fought hard for 60 minutes. We struggled defensively against their pivots, who kept things tight. Nevertheless, we had a chance to win but made too many mistakes. During the time-out, I considered bringing in a seventh player, but I remembered we were short a pivot. We opted to shoot from outside, which had worked for us earlier since their goalkeeper was underperforming. It was a good strategy, but it didn’t pan out,” explained Vlado Šola.

With 28 seconds remaining and the score at 25:24, the Croatian coach aimed to set up a play for seven players but realized they lacked two pivots. He consulted Branko Vujović for the plan, but the right back’s shot was saved by Kristof Palašić, leading to regret.

“This isn’t unusual. Sometimes a coach decides, while other times he lets the seasoned players take the lead. The decision was sound, but we failed to execute. Banjo is our key player, so ideally, the ball should have gone to him. It’s disappointing to lose, but I’m hopeful we’ll win our upcoming matches soon,” he added.

Next up on Sunday is Iceland, who recently fought to a draw against Serbia (27:27) after a late-game 3:0 run in the last 100 seconds.

“We need to emotionally recover from this defeat because we’ll face Iceland in two days. They’ll be eager to bounce back from their draw with Serbia, seeing themselves as favorites in the group. We must reflect on what we performed well and where we went wrong,” emphasized Shola.

News