At today’s press conference, Ranko Popović, the coach of Vojvodina FC , highlighted that he expects a difficult match against Čukarički FC.

The players of the old lady will be the guests of Čukarički on Sunday, October 29th at 4:30pm, and Popović cannot count on all players.

  • I can only compliment Čukarički on what they have been doing lately, and it is nice that we have one such club in the league, and as our opponent. My only interest is that we have a team that can tactically respond. I know that we cannot count on the players who have yellow cards, while some other players are also disputable, and we are trying to prepare them for the match. I want us to repeat the attitude, discipline, and organization that we had at our last match, and if we manage to do that, then we are really on the right path – Popović said.

He reflected on the previous win against Radnik, where Aleksa Vukanović, and Norman Campbell came into the spotlight.

  • Aleksa Vukanović brought the team a lot, because he has a rich experience. Although Campbell doesn’t have that much experience, he brings a different quality, and that is what we need. From the very beginning I repeated one important thing, and that is that we can’t have ’’me’’ before ’’us’’. I talk a lot with the players, and I often had the opportunity to hear that ’’me’’, and then I told them that we should see where ’’we’’ are. When we understand that, then we will be stronger in our games away, because the team and the collective spirit is the most important. If you function like a team, then the team will launch an individual and put them on the radar, and I see no reason why that shouldn’t be the case when we don’t play at our stadium. The most important thing is that the players accept that, and that those players who are ready open up and adapt, and then as a group we will be better, that is what we strive for. The players get things, but they should accept them too. I have no secrets whatsoever, and what I say to the players, I can say to you as well. We have some habits from the past, who went where, and who did what, and football is about this moment and this moment only, and if we are not good now, then it won’t be good. If we change that now, our future will be much better. Some things are deeply rooted, and we should change them, be more concrete, play from the first touch. Motivation? There is no greater thing than doing what you love and supporting your family, providing for yourself and for the generations to come. For me the biggest motivations was identifying with the jersey I was wearing.

Those are not just empty phrases, we should feel the connection to the jersey, that’s me, and that’s who I want us to be. I want us to know where we play, why we play, and then we will become better as individuals – Popović pointed out.

Voša‘s coach believes that being defeated by Fiorentina cannot affect Čukarički in a negative, but in a positive way.

– Twenty-five years ago, I played with my minor club Sturm from Graz, under one great coach, Ivica Osim, and we played the Champions League. We played against Real in Madrid, and we lost 5:1, and after just 3 days we played a city derby against GAK. They were excited about the game, they hadn‘t defeated us for years at that point, it‘s the real derby, a life or death game, just like here. We returned from such an important game, tired after receiving five goals. But, what were those goals like? – up until the 75th minute the result had been 2:1, we had many chances, but not to quality to finalize them. Then they gave their everything, Mijatović, Šuker, Raul are there, and others. And we play that derby, I take a look at the scoreboard, it says 15th minute, and we can barely breathe. Both me and my best man Darko Miljanić are playing the defense, the opponents are all over the pitch, we can‘t catch up with them. Our master, Ivo Vlastić scores a goal for 1:0, and after that we give 4 more goals, and win 5:0. How? Thanks to the attitude. And that is the right question. I hear the phrases ‘‘a wounded lion‘‘, but if they didn‘t have quality, they wouldn‘t have played in Europe. No matter how they lost, they will leave such games much stronger, because they played against the teams that are nothing like the teams in our league.

And that‘s why I compared it to the match against Real. The fast balls, duels, and everything they see and experience, puts them ahead of us. Both Čukarički, and TSC. And them losing is not important, the longer they play, they will advance more. We have the opportunity to come to the terms with not being in the Europe‘s elite, and to learn and progress, lose 2:1 next time, then play a draw, then win. That‘s how we at Sturm grew, we were the last, and then we played the UEFA Cup, and then passed the group qualifications in the Champions League. In a nutshell, you feel how you are growing and advancing, like in a kindergarten, or school. Just take a look at the player pool Čukarički has, and everything they had achieved in the last couple of years. We shouldn‘t measure their quality based on the defeat by Fiorentina. Instead, we should observe how they created the chance to play against them. The previous years and games led them to Florence – Popović highlighted.

Finally, he addressed the playing staff.

– I won’t name names, two or three players had a fever, we will check with the doctors whether they will be ready for the match. Yet, I want us to strive towards victory even when we don’t have two players, I want 2 new players to stand out, and to have not 12-13, but 16-18 players, and to grow together as one. Now, we cannot count on the suspended players Lazarević and Milosavljević, but we want their replacements to do their job well – Popović concluded.

The match between Čukarički and Vojvodina is scheduled for Sunday, October 29th at 4:30pm. The live broadcast will be available on Arena Sport 4.