Our women's football team opened their premier appearance in the higher tier of European football with two defeats, to Albania in Nikšić 2:1 and to Wales away 6:1.
And those two matches showed how demanding the competition at a higher level is, and demanding matches await them, because the Czech team has both great quality and ambitions.
The Czechs drew 2-2 at home against Wales in the first two rounds, conceding a goal to draw in the final moments, and then were convincing against Albania 5-1 away.
"This is a very strong and well-coordinated team, composed mainly of players from the two biggest clubs, Sparta and Slavia. They have been playing together for a long time, and it was clear against Wales that they are very well-coordinated and how strong they are," says coach Mirko Marić.
It is clear that there is not much chance that Montenegro will pull off a surprise, but what is important is the impression they will leave - Marić expects and believes that they will be better than in Wales.
"The very fact that we committed four fouls against Wales in 95 minutes speaks volumes about how we played. If we don't respond with aggression, commitment, desire and fighting spirit, I think we can hardly expect anything. I personally learned a good lesson from that game, I hope the girls also understood where we went wrong, and in training we will work on all the details that were bad in that match," said Marić.
Marić and his coaching staff are facing many problems – Selma Ličina, Ivana Boričić, goalkeeper Jovana Žugić are missing due to injuries, Andrea Janjušević is injured, several girls are playing in clubs with little playing time...
"This is not the first time we have faced such problems. I hope that we will respond to all challenges and that we will stand up to a strong opponent with dignity," said Marić.
