During qualifications for the European Football Championship which will be held next year in Poland and Ukraine, the national football team of Montenegro still have not lost a single game. The match against Bulgaria on 4 June in Podgorica ended in a 1-1 draw and kept Montenegro in the running for the greatest championship on the continent. They currently share first place in their qualifying group with England. The top two teams from each group qualify.  

Before the qualifications began, no one even dreamt of such an outcome – no one except the squad’s head coach Zlatko Cice Kranjčar – a Croat, who began to spread an air of optimism the moment he took charge of the national team. This at the time provoked rather sceptical reactions from the general public. Now however, everyone is dreaming of Montenegro’s first appearance in this great Championship.

In spite of the fact that no one expected they would achieve this success, Kranjčar always believed in his players. “I shall always put my players first. My vast experience, as a player and as a coach, tells me that the players are the key to everything. The team of experts led by me believed the players had much more to offer than they have until now and we have done everything in our power to convince them of this. So, they too began to believe and their quality made it possible for them to do what was expected of them and achieve fantastic results”, says Kranjčar adding that the entire team of experts has worked on convincing the players of their quality.

“Therefore, the most important thing would have to be the collective responsibility which is what made it possible to consolidate other qualities”, says the head coach of the Montenegro national team in his interview for Southeast Europe: People and Culture.

Not only have the Montenegrin footballers come out as winners, they have only conceded one goal, even though they are in the same group as England, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Wales. The score so far is three matches won and two draws, with one of the draws coming against England at the famous Wembley stadium. And yet, Kranjčar did not see this match as the greatest challenge of all.

“The toughest match was the one against Switzerland, the one we played in Podgorica. We played against an opponent whose ratings were higher than ours, whose quality was unquestionable and who was capable of changing the result and the rhythm of the game at our own stadium, but we managed to put up good resistance. This is why this particular match is my favourite. We played the match against England without having to worry too much and we were sure we could win our first match against Bulgaria”, says Kranjčar.

In the past, Montenegro did not have a strong defence but that has changed ever since Kranjčar arrived. “I cannot run away from what we all know – there were many problems in our defence during the last round of qualifications [for the 2010 World Cup] and the defence needed lots of time to consolidate”, Kranjčar said.

“We managed to achieve this thanks to Baša, Jovanović, Pavićević and Džudović but also thanks to our formidable goalkeeper Božović. So far in the qualifications they have performed impeccably. Naturally, they are not the only ones. The contribution of our midfielders who can defend, but who can also take the game to the opponent’s side of the field, has resulted in a positive outcome”.

The head coaches of Wales and Bulgaria lost their jobs after the first qualification matches against Montenegro, leading Bulgaria to appoint German footballing legend Lothar Matthäus as the new coach. Kranjčar has managed to outwit much more famous coaches, such as those of England and Switzerland, Fabio Capello and Ottmar Hitzfeld respectively. This is probably where he gets his motto: “We do not need to fear our opponents and should feel nothing but utmost respect for them”.

Kranjčar came to Montenegro from neighbouring Croatia and there is one quality in the Montenegrins which he especially points out: “What I like is the pride that the Montenegrins have as a nation. It is very specific and very strong. I like to see how proud they are of their beautiful natural parks and the sea, that they are a nation with exceptional manners and yet they have a more relaxed lifestyle than those in the neighbouring countries. People here live moderate, relaxed, easy and unburdened lives…”

In autumn, the Montenegrin national team will be playing against Wales, England and Switzerland. Whatever the outcome of the qualifications may be, the matches played by the Montenegrin national team under the leadership of Zlatko Kranjčar have already attracted the attention of the world’s media.