Montenegro v England, Podgorica

European Championships Qualifier 2020
Group A
Montenegro v England
Podgorica City Stadium, 

Podgorica, Montenegro
25 March 2019

Montenegro are having a wretched run at the moment, wining only one of their last six games (Lithuania away in Oct 18). Although, three days ago they were unlucky to draw with Bulgaria in Sofia, after the home side were awarded a penalty which was clearly outside the area.

Tickets for this game were at a premium. The Montenegrin FA had allocated the minimum of 5% of the stadium capacity, which amounted to a measly 650 tickets and the worst allocation that England had received since I have been attending away games. Luckily I snaked in with 46 caps and Sue got lucky in the ballet. There were lots of ticketless English fans who opted for home end tickets, but when they got to the turnstiles they were ejected😠 net result was lots of empty seats in the home end.

This is England's third visit to Montenegro, as we played them in Oct 11 in a European Championship Qualifier and in Mar 13 in a World Cup qualifier, the games ended in  2-2 and 1-1 draws, respectively. We have only managed 1 victory out of 4 against these Balkan minnows.

Montenegro 1 England 5
Attendance: 8,329

Stadion Pod Goricom is a tadge 'Old Skool'. The stadium was built in 1945 during the process of rebuilding a city which had been devastated by the war. In 1952 the 5,000 capacity stadium burnt down and was then rebuilt to its current specification, with a capacity of 11,568. Not much has been done to the stadium since😜

The walk to the stadium from the centre is all of 5 minutes

 

The chosen few (650) witnessed a great performance by England who managed to replicate their goal tally of 5 which they achieved a few nights ago at Wembley. Sadly though, this game will be remembered for the monkey chants that were aimed at some of England's black players, especially Raheem Sterling and Danny Rose. We couldn't hear it from behind the goal but the TV footage appears to show that it comes from the West Stand behind the dug out. It is a real shame that this is occurring in 2019, but I will add that it is not a reflection on the warmth and hospitality that the vast majority of English received whist in Montenegro. As always, it's just a few mindless idiots that ruin football.

Day 1: Arriving at our digs in the old town of Kotor

Stumbling distance to the pub

Sue and our host 'Lidija'

St Tryphon's Cathedral, Kotor

Day 2: Waking up to this view was fabulous. This day is going to be a long one, as we have planned an excursion to top all excursions.

0830 and the views of Kotor Bay are stunning as we drive up the Serpentine to Lovcen.

At 0930 we stop for breakfast near the village of Njegusi

They produce there own smoked 
dried ham (prsut) and cheese (sir). 

Bonne Appetite

Washed down with a bottle of Niksicko Pivo (at 0930).

Next stop Mount Lovcen

Our guide 'Oggie' and the two girls from Hong Kong.

Sue scaling the summit

We made it!

The entrance to the Mausoleum is guarded by the mother and sister of Montenegro's greatest hero.

Petar II Petrovic Njegos rests in the wings of an eagle, carved from a single block of black granite.

Rear of the mausoleum

Inspiration!

Liberty!

No Fear!

No limits!

Lizards in the snow

Cetinje - Old Royal capital of Montenegro that lost its status as the capital in 1946 when it reluctantly handed the baton over to Podgorica. 

Cetinje Monastry - 4th rebuild (1786) as the other 3 have been previously destroyed by Ottoman Turk attacks.

Court Church, the burial place of former Royal Sovereigns.

First glimpse of Lake Skadar.

The largest lake in the Balkans

Next we stop for lunch on the Crnojevic River. Fish soup and River Trout is the order of the day. Mmmm😋

Now that looks fun...

Our chariot awaits.

James Bond 007 at your service

Still waters of Lake Skadar

Give it some throttle

How to gatecrash a Montenegrin BBQ 😎

We arrive back at the Kotor Clock Tower 

at just after 7 (11 hours later)

Drinking Rakija with my new mate (and Bar owner).

Day 3 - Match Day (No hang over)

A quick tour of Kotor starting with the Sea Gate

Clock Tower (1642)

Kotor is famous for its cats, there are literally hundreds of them, but they are not 'stray' they are all looked after and are treasured by the locals.

Drago Palace

Pima Palace

St Tryphon's Cathedral

St Luke's Church (1195) on Greek Square

Cat

Church of St Nicholas (Orthodox)

Our favourite Bar at Cafe Perper is also the start of 

the ascent to the Austrian Fort

Now its time to climb to the Austrian Forts

Church of Our Lady of Remedy (1518)

They are everywhere😻

The Fortifications stretch for miles

On top of the Castle of St John



Back down into Kotor

The River Gate

Skurda River

Entrance to the Gurdie Gate

 The Southern edge of the Austrian Forts

Taxi to Podgorica (50 Euros between 4) bonus!

Arriving into Podgorica we cross the Millennium Bridge

Our taxi drops us off at the Gradski Stadium

There are two main ultra group associated with FK Buducnost: 'Loyal Boys' and 'Varvari' (Varvari means Barbarians in the Montenegrin language)..

Zapad (West) Stand and the main stand

Sjever (North) Stand Entrance - Montenegrin ultras end

'All in the North'

Back of the East Stand

Montenegrin ladies 😍

Buducnost graffiti along Bulevar Sv Petra

Blue Guard

Hotel Ideal, a snip at £36

Varvari everywhere

Fittingly the 1st pint in Podgorica is at the Titograd, our favourite pub from 6 years ago. 

Gary's new flag at the 'The Cactus Bar'.

West Ham Gary

I want some of what Lawrence has been sniffing 

Tommo and Joe (Sunderland)

Njegoseva Street

The Pizzeria Presto

 

Cheers Bar to the left and Zeppelin Bar to the right

The Titograd Bar

 

Declan Rice's family talking to Gary😊

Sue's big interview 

The OB have turned up, time to go👮

Tommo's tours take us across the Moscow Bridge that spans the Moraca to Novi Grad (new town)

Buducnost country

Orthodox - Temple of the Resurrection of Christ

From the front

We eventually arrive at Tommo's local

The bar is called Bulevar Džada and is a 

stone's throw from the Orthodox Cathedral

Anglo-Montenegrin relations are flourishing

Until we steal the flag😎

Only kidding😂

Back to the Titograd for last orders

Only a short walk...

so i'll have another

Njegoseva Street 1

Njegoseva Street 2

Selfie - Njegoseva Street

Montenegrins....

....they know how to Party

Stadion Pod Goricom

I've been rumbled😇

Security at the South Stand

After all of that we make the KO

Early photo from the South Stand



Zapad (West) Stand



Istok (East) Stand



Sjever (North) Stand



Lower tier of the Jug (South) Stand

Montenegrin ultras in the North Stand

Stepping out of the tunnel

Marching out for the anthems

Anthems

The end of Sector A of the South Stand

KO is imminent

The East Stand looks empty 

Probably because so many English brought home end tickets from Montenegrin fans but were denied access by security

England faithful in the lower tier of the South Stand

Montenegro attack the opposite end in the first half and score against the run of play with a strike from Marko Vesovic on 17 minutes.

Can England respond?

England reply from a set piece when a Ross Barkley free kick is powered home by Michael Keane on 30 minutes 

England take the lead on 38 minutes when a Hudson Odoi strike is turned in by Ross Barkley

Keane celebrating his equaliser in front of the England fans.

At Half time England lead 1:2

The Montenegrin team getting some clean abuse

Me and Big Paul getting photo bombed, class!

In the second half Montenegro can't lay a glove on England and the Three Lions pull away with some dazzling football. The third goal is created by Sterling as he twist and turns through defenders only to see his shot blocked, but it falls to Ross Barkley who smashes it home from 15 yards. In the 71st minute England rapidly turn defence into attack as Sterling breaks down the right before squaring it for Harry Kane to get on the score sheet. 4:1 England. Fittingly, Sterling is the scorer of England's winning goad in the 80th minute when Henderson plays a sublime through ball to him. Raheem Sterling gathers it and slots passed the keeper. 

The 650

England showing there appreciation through the net

Our Lady of the Rock Island is an artificial island that has been created by the constant piling up of rocks by the locals, who legend has it found a madonna on a rock in the 15th C and started the practice.

Cheers Montenegro see you again soon