New faces in Montenegro's squad

When Montenegro enter the Men’s EHF EURO 2016 Qualification in Group 4 at the end of October, there will be a number of new faces in the team compared to the roster for the World Championship 2015 Play-offs, which Montenegro lost to Belarus.

For the matches against Serbia (29 October) and Iceland (2 November) head coach Ljubomir Obradovic did not nominate seven players who had been part of the team in June: Goalkeepers Nebojsa Simic and Marko Rajkovic, line player Mladen Rakcevic, and backcourt players Stevan Vujovic, Dusan Tomic, Zarko Pejovic, Ivan Perisic.

There was also no space for former captain Drasko Mrvaljevic, who missed the games against Belarus because of an injury, but is currently without a club.

A new face in the team is Vojvodina line player, Branko Kankaras, and another three talented junior players, Milos Bozovic, Stefan Cavor and Vuko Borilovic, have also made the cut.

The fifth newcomer is 29-year-old goalkeeper Mile Mijuskovic who will get the chance to play his first official games.

"It's never too late, persistence does pay off,” said Mile, who takes to the court for Spanish side Frigoríficos del Morrazo (Club Balonman Cangas).

"I’m very happy. I had been nominated once before, but this was only for friendly matches. Now it's for the official qualifying games to the EHF EURO 2016."

Rakcevic and Simic disappointed

Some of the players missing from the list of nominated players are disappointed.

"As a professional, I respect Obradovic’s decision, he has the right to decide who will play for the national team.

"If he didn’t put me on the list because of the injury, is not clear to me who told him that I was injured, because this information he didn’t receive from me, my doctor or my club," Mladen Rakcevic said to Montenegrin news agency MINA.

Rakcevic had said a month and half ago, that he would suffer from a knee ligament injury but added he believed he would be ready for the qualifiers.

"The doctor’s predictions were that I would be ready to play those games. I'm disappointed because I think that as a player who has been part of the national team from the beginning and the player with the most games for Montenegro, I deserve a call from Obradovic to ask me whether I will be ready for the start of qualifications," Rakcevic added.

HK Malmö goalkeeper Nebojsa Simic was not nominated even though in the past years he had been the first substitute for Rade Mijatovic.

"Somehow I’m a little disappointed, because in the last three years I was always in the national team and always I tried to give the maximum.

"The fact that I'm not on the list surprised me, especially because I am in good shape. But I'm a professional; I will try to continue to give my maximum at every practice and game. To my teammates I wish them all the best of luck in the coming matches," Simic stated.

The Montenegro squad for the qualifiers against Serbia (29 October) and Iceland (2 November):

Goalkeepers: Rade Mijatovic (Csurgoi KK, Hungary), Mile Mijuskovic (Frigoríficos del Morrazo, Spain), Vuko Borilovic (Umag, Croatia)

Left wings: Igor Markovic (Lovcen), Milan Popovic (Lovcen), Milos Vujovic (Uniqa Pecs, Hungary)

Right wings: Fahrudin Melic (PSG Handball, France), Mirko Radovic (Valence Handball, France), Marko Lasica (no club)

Line players: Nemanja Grbovic (Radnicki, Serbia), Marko Pejovic (OCI Nitrogen-Lions, Netherlands), Branko Kankaras (Vojvodina, Serbia)

Left backs: Vasko Sevaljevic (TSV Hannover-Burgdorf, Germany), Vuko Borozan (Metalurg, FYR Macedonia), Milos Bozovic (Gorenje Velenje, Slovenia)

Centre backs: Mirko Milasevic (Billère Handball, France), Bogdan Petricevic (Mulhouse HB Sud Alsace, France), Bozidar Andjelic (no club)

Right backs: Vladan Lipovina (Metalurg, FYR Macedonia), Stefan Cavor (Csurgoi KK, Hungary)