PODGORICA, Montenegro - One might have thought Israel got lost looking for Montenegro when its national under-21 squad flew into Vienna last week in preparation for its Group 6 match. Last night, it took five minutes for the team to get its bearings against its weaker opponent and paid a heavy price, going down 1-0.
Montenegro struck early and Israel never recovered, losing important ground in its qualifying group. It was a big victory for Montenegro, which moved three points clear of Israel, which has one game in hand, and Sweden, which has two games in hand. Advertisement
Stefan Nikolic's early header proved to be the winner. The Montenegrin striker, who plays for Belgium's Roselare, scored after just five minutes when Ivan Fatic - playing on left side - found defender Slobodan Lakicevic, who was took control of the ball sent a solid cross to Nikolic.
Montenegro opened the game very aggressively and took the initiative from the outset. Coach Dusan Vlaisavljevi started with three strikers - Admir Adrovic, Nikolic and Marko Djurovic - knowing that victory was the only option for his squad.
Israel took control as the game progressed, and might have scored in the 15th minute after a sloppy Stefan Savic pass gave Ben Sahar a chance to score, but the Espanyol's striker miscued his shot.
Then within a two-minute stretch Lakicevic committed two terrible mistakes, but goalkeeper Vladan Giljen made a pair of brilliant saves to fend off Mohammad Gadir's efforts to equalize.
Israel had three good chances early in the second half, but Lior Asulin, Idan Vered and Toto Tamuz all missed their shots on goal. Montenegro then took back the momentum, stopping every attack Israel tried to develop. It eventually became clear that it was not to be the visitors' day, and Ran Abukrat picked up a red card for a second booking at the close of play.
"We have only ourselves to blame," said Israel coach Moti Ivanir after the game. "We conceded an early goal and wielded control almost entirely after that," he said. "Regretfully, we didn't know how to take advantage of the scoring chances we had, and it cost us the match."
The loss puts more pressure on the team ahead of its match Wednesday against Bulgaria. Guy Asulin, who missed a couple of easy shots along with Sahar, said the players were clearly disappointed. "We'll make some corrections and hope to beat Bulgaria," he said. "There's no point in dwelling on why we lost."
Ivanir noted that Israel has to collect 10 points from its four remaining matches to guarantee a spot in the playoffs. "We made the job hard for ourselves," he said. "We'll have to adjust against Bulgaria and take three points." (Moshe Harush contributed to this report.)
Source:haaretz.com
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