The final battles for the trophy in the Premier VRL League begin tomorrow, with the semifinals of the Final Four in Kragujevac.
The press conference ahead of the tournament took place in Kragujevac today.
The coaches and captains of all four teams, Radnicki, Primorac, Jadran m:tel, and Sabac Elixir, spoke to the journalists.
All photos by Uroš Popović
The time to summarize the season has come, and it seems the teams have a positive view of a new competition. Andrija Prlainovic underlined that the league’s launch was a great move; that the league justified its existence, as many new players emerged through exciting games; and that the battle for the first four places was open almost until the end.
Even though the teams didn’t have much time for preparations, the coaches and players emphasized they were ready for great challenges.
Lompar: “Returning to the Final Four is an extra motivation”
The tournament will be opened by the Montenegin derby, Primorac – Jadran, which will start tomorrow at 18:00.
Primorac assistant coach Vido Lompar reminded that Kotor’s side hadn’t played in the final stage of the Regional League for quite some time, and that simply reaching the semifinals already represents an important step forward.
“We’ve been absent from the final stage of the Regional League for a long time. Since we were European champions and vice-champions of Europe, back then our best finish was third place. So, a possible win in the semifinal, would be Primorac’s best placement in the Regional League. That’s an extra motivation, alongside everything my colleagues mentioned. When you’re at a Final Four, you want the trophy.”
Speaking about the clash with Jadran, their third meeting of the season, Lompar was cautious.
This season, we have played three matches against Jadran, and each one has been different. We can never be certain about what to expect. However, it is likely that the outcome will be determined by just two or three key moments. I hope that these small details will work in our favor,” said Vido Lompar, assistant coach of Primorac.
One of the players who won the Champions League with Primorac in 2009 will play in the Final Four. It’s Drasko Brguljan, a captain and long-time pillar of the team. He spoke about the difficulty of balancing form in a season that allows no rest.
“It’s difficult to peak for any given shape, especially with the breaks we’ve had during the year. We all had a large number of matches from September to December, then a national team break, two months where we did nothing, and then we had many games the Regional League, the Champions League, all of that in such a short time frame. Recently, we had another break because of the national teams”
Brguljan also reflected on the previous meetings with Jadran this season.
“The three matches we played were completely different, each one on its own, and really unpredictable, anything can happen tomorrow. Of course, I’d like it to be a tight match that we come out on top of. Either way, we’ve got a match on Sunday, whether for third or first place, and we’ll go out to win it. We came here to play two good matches.”
Gojkovic: “We all came here for the trophy”
Jadran head coach Vlado Gojkovic, with extensive experience both as a player and as a national team head coach, emphasised that the four teams know each other very well and that the decisive factor will be the inspiration of the moment.
“There are four exceptional teams here, which have earned their place through the regular season. We know Primorac very well. We recently played a match that we didn’t handle particularly well, but we meet them very often. We’re the strongest teams in our country, so there are no major surprises. The decision will certainly come down to current inspiration, probably because they know what we can prepare, and we know most of what they can prepare.”
Gojkovic also noted that preparations weren’t ideal, since the players had only returned from national team camps two days earlier, but the ambition is clear.
“Both Primorac and Jadran, and I believe the other two teams as well, came here to try to win the trophy. With that desire, we ended yesterday’s meeting with the goal of first beating Primorac, and then, if we qualify for the final, beating the next team and lifting the trophy.”
Captain Vasilije Radovic confirmed that Jadran is taking it match by match and that the main focus of his team’s play will be defense.
„Primorac had a good attack. They score a lot of goals per game and the key will be in our defense. If we do so, we can hope to play in the final, and win the trophy.
Stevanovic: “We’re the hosts, and there’s an imperative”
At 20:30, Radnicki and Sabac will face off in the Serbian derby in the semifinals
Radnicki head coach Uros Stevanovic reflected on the demanding calendar. His team has already played nearly 30 matches since the start of the season.
“Until today, I didn’t even know that we will play our 29th and 30th match of the season. It’s certainly extremely hard, above all for the players. We’ve had a season intertwined with national team duties, the European Championship in Belgrade, and now the World Cup played in Division 1 in Greece and Division 2 in Malta. The players are definitely carrying the heaviest load.
Stevanovic didn’t hide his ambitions, but also acknowledged that form at this moment isn’t something that can be planned.
“Because of the demanding calendar, I believe that none of the coaches and players can estimate at what level of shape their teams are at before the tournament. We want to win our third Regional League trophy. We can’t really dwell on what level of form we’re in, what state we’re in. We all want to win and we’ll do our best, for sure. As the host and the team that finished the regular season in first place, Radnicki has an imperative, and we’ll truly do everything to show even better performances than we displayed in the second part of the season.”
Veteran Andrija Prlainovic, one of the most decorated water polo players of our time, has won national league titles in several countries, numerous medals with national teams, five Champions League trophies, etc. But the Regional League trophy is still missing in his treasury. He spoke about his motivation before another F4 in his outstanding career.
“As long as I play, I try to find the motivation. That bit of nerves you get before matches and tournaments like these still exists, which is a good thing. We simply carry this tournament.”
Prlainovic didn’t shy away from the role of the main title contender either.
“We accept the role of favorites. I wouldn’t call it a burden, it’s simply fitting given the team we have and the fact that we’re playing in front of our own crowd, as hosts.”
He also praised the Regional League itself.
“I think this year’s edition of the league has justified its formation and existence. For young players, a league like this means a lot, because the more high-level matches there are, the better it is for them. It delivered plenty of intrigue, plenty of uncertain duels, and tension right up to the final round. In my view, it was a home run.”
Licanin: “We’re not the favourites, but we’ll do our best
Sabac head coach Nemanja Licanin spoke openly about his team’s role, aware that it plays against the top favorite:.
“We’re aware that against the teams we’re playing, which feature most of the Olympic and European champions. We’re not the favorites in that match, but we’ll give our maximum. What’s very important, and what I spoke about with the players while preparing for the match, is that we mustn’t let ourselves to repeat the performance from this year’s final of the Serban cup, where we didn’t played well. We weren’t satisfied with our performance, how we looked, the result wass totally irrelevant. The most important is that we give our maximum and that we look the way we’ve looked for most of the season.”
Asked how much his working relationship with Uros Stevanovic in the national team helps him prepare, given that both coaches know each other’s way of thinking, Licanin stayed realistic.
“In the end, it’ll all come down to the quality and the moment of both teams, and to the players in the pool. I think the emphasis should always be on the players and their performance, how it’ll look in the pool. Tactically, whatever you set up, sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t go the way it was planned.”
Captain Mihajlo Repanovic reminded that Sabac has occasionally surprised Radnicki in the past, but doesn’t hide that he, too, would consider a win in Kragujevac a huge feat.
“As for that result from a few years ago, I’m not sure there are five players in this team who could repeat that match. Kragujevac is an exceptional team. During the first part of the season, we beat much stronger teams, but we didn’t manage to beat Kragujevac even at home. It would be an extraordinary feat to beat them here, but if the chance presents itself, why wouldn’t we take it?”
The last message for the players before stepping into the pool?
“To play without pressure. The pressure isn’t on us. Given that nothing is expected of us, we can only surprise. We’ve got nothing to lose.”
As things stand, the Kragujevac crowd can expect top-level water polo. The semifinal between Primorac and Jadran starts Friday at 6 PM, and three hours later Radnicki and Sabac close out the opening day of the Final Four.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: total-waterpolo.com
