[attach id=259003 size="medium"]Branko Brnovic – Montenegro.[/attach]
High-flying Montenegro were brought down to earth in World Cup qualifying after a 4-0 home rout by Ukraine but the tiny Adriatic nation’s coach Branko Brnovic remains optimistic about their chances of reaching next year’s finals.
Their heaviest competitive defeat as an independent nation notwithstanding, Montenegro top Group H with 14 points from seven matches, two more than England and three ahead of Ukraine, both having played a game less.
“I can guarantee that we will take six points from our remaining three games and I am absolutely confident that we can bounce back from this setback and finish in the top two,” a defiant Brnovic told reporters after his team collapsed in the second half.
“We headed into the second half with the wrong attitude, thinking the game was already won after the Ukrainians had a player sent off.
“But then they scored and when we had two players dismissed, the floodgates opened and I also have to take responsibility for miscalculated substitutions which played into our opponents’ hands,” he said.
The Montenegrins next visit Poland on September 6 before their October 11 trip to Wembley, where they meet England hopeful of avoiding defeat against the Three Lions for the fourth time in a row.
The two sides drew twice in Euro 2012 qualifying, when England won the group and Montenegro lost to Czech Republic in the play-offs after finishing second, and again in March when a 76th-minute goal by striker Dejan Damjanovic salvaged a 1-1 tie for Brnovic’s side.
There was to be no such comeback for Montenegro against the Ukrainians after Denis Garmash broke the deadlock early in the second half as the battling Montenegrins, whose talented striker Stevan Jovetic limped off with a thigh injury shortly before the break, fell apart.
“The lad was suffering, he really played his heart out to make a difference but it wasn’t to be,” Brnovic said.
“He is a player who can turn the game with one deft touch of the ball and his injury was also a blow because it disrupted the planned order of substitutions, leading to poor makeshift decisions.
“But I see no reason why we can’t beat Poland away and Moldova at home in our last game, in which case the England match in-between those two would be decisive.”