Radnicki or Primorac?
Tomorrow, at 20:30, the top two teams from the regular season will face off in the gold-medal match of the Premier VRL League at the F4 in Kragujevac.
Primorac arrived at the final by beating Jadran after a penalty shootout (22:20), while Radnicki defeated Sabac 15:9. However, the final score of the Serbian derby doesn’t mirror a big battle in the pool.
Radnicki and Primorac will meet for the fifth time in official matches this season. Radnicki holds a 4-0 record, beating Primorac twice in the VRL regular season (13:7 and 15:9) and, recently, in the Euro Cup quarterfinals (14:10 and 17:15). However, before all these matches, Primorac beat Radnicki during pre-season preparations in Kotor.
Radnicki is seeking its third trophy in the regional leagues, and Primorac will play its first final.
Stevanovic: It was easier in Kotor than in Kragujevac
Uros Stevanovic, Radnicki’s head coach, reflected on the series of wins over Primorac at today’s press conference:
“Although we achieved convincing victories in some of those games, all matches were uncertain. We had easier wins in Kotor than in Kragujevac. Yesterday, each semifinal had its weight. The players understood that they had no room for mistakes; there were no second chances. Nevertheless, both semifinal matches showcased high quality, worthy of the Final Four in this competitive tournament. I hope the players of all four teams recover and deliver even better performances than they did on Friday. It took us a long time to secure the win over Sabac, but it was the game we anticipated. Sabac had nothing to lose, and it was a long club break for us. This match was just what we needed for our preparation for the final, especially since we had a pause due to the World Cup.”
Radnicki’s centre-forward, Nikola Murisic, who has played for Primorac, share Stevanovic’s opinion about the semifinals:
“I expected this kind of game. Sabac, a young and well-prepared team, offered strong resistance. They were able to come back and cut the deficit several times. The difference in the final score was larger than the difference between the two teams’ performances. I am glad that my former club is in the final. We know where Primorac’s greatest danger lies. We will be ready for this match. There can always be some tactical surprises, but it is clear that we have to keep the match under control and impose our rhythm from the first minute.”
Cetkovic: Win over great opponent with poor performance displayed our progress
Athanasios Kechagias, Primorac’s head coach, said that his team will have a demanding task:
“It’s a great honor for us to play at the F4. We had a hard game in the semifinals, but in sports, you always have to think about the next day, not about yesterday. We are aware that a difficult task lies ahead, but we’ll do our best. Radnicki is a favorite; it beat us four times. However, every final is always a unique game, and you can never know what can happen.
One of the experienced players of Primorac, Savo Cetkovic, was self-critical regarding the game against Jadran:
“We displayed one of our worst performances this season in the semifinals. However, we showed we had matured and grown as a team by beating an excellent opponent despite our poor play and achieving a major success. I believe the final will be a game with fewer goals than our semifinals, and that will remain uncertain until the end. We are ready.
Gojkovic and Licanin: We all need regional league
The overture for the final will be the third-place match between Jadran m:tel and Sabac Elixir, which starts at 18:30.
After the semifinals, Jadran has something to regret. The Herceg Novi-based team had a 3-goal lead late into the third quarter against Primorac. It also had a chance to secure a win in regular time. In the end, it fell in a shootout.
Commenting on the match against Primorac, Jadran head coach Vladimir Gojkovic:
“We failed to win in a high-scoring game, but we have to forget the match against Primorac. Our next opponent is also an outstanding team. Jadran arrived in Kragujevac to play in the final. After we didn’t reach the gold medal game, we don’t want to return home as a fourth-placed team.
Gojkovic spoke about the VRL League, too.
“Montenegrin water polo needs this League, but also every national federation in the region needs such a competition. None of us has a quality league like VRL is. Young players can improve themselves. The League’s marketing progress has been made this season. If the competition is stronger, it will be good for all of us, Gojkovic said, and praised Kragujevac and Radnicki for the organization of the tournament.
Djordje Lazic, the European champion with Serbia, and one of Jadran’s pillars, underlined that Jadran and Sabac know each other very well. In the regular season, Sabac won 12:10 at home, and Jadran took revenge with a 13:10 victory in Herceg Novi.
“I believe we can win, but it won’t be easy against Sabac. Since our goal was to play in the final, we have to recover from the semifinal loss. But, the battle for 3rd place also motivates us, we have to find enough strength to do everything as we should.
Sabac was an underdog in the second semifinal against Radnicki, but it offered strong resistance and kept up with the hosts for long. Radnicki secured a convincing win only in the final minutes.
“We have to learn from the defeat. Our chance in the semifinals was a low-scoring game, Radnicki has a lot of excellent players, and they capitalized on every one of our mistakes, but we can be satisfied with our performance in the first three periods. Sabac is a young team for this kind of match. Against Jadan, we have to minimize mistakes as much as possible. As for the League itself, Sabac has always wanted to participate in it, in one of the strongest European leagues. Players gain experience in matches against great aces. The organization of the League and the Final Four has been at a high level. I expect that the League will continue to exist in the following years.
Nebojsa Toholj, Sabac’s center-forward also underlined that Sabac is relatively a newcomer to the F4 tournaments
“Sabac has the least experience of all four teams in these kinds of matches. But, we can prepare ourselves in every way, physically and mentally, for the duel with Jadran. We need to forget the semifinals and do everything to win third place.”
Visit the Premier League’s page on Total Waterpolo Arena for the live scores, schedule and standings.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: total-waterpolo.com
