December 14, 2021
With the completion of two
catch-up games postponed from round 16 at the end of November, the 2021/22
season of the Montenegro First League, known for sponsorship reasons as as the Telekom 1.CFL, has now reached its winter break. All
sides have played 19 matches except for FK Iskra and FK Zeta, whose match on
December 5th was postponed due to bad weather, and will now be
played in the new year. The dates for the second part of the session are still
to be announced, but typically the season resumes after the winter break on the
third weekend of February, which would be 19th February this season.
These diaries last looked at the
Montenegro First League in early November after the conclusion of round 14. At
that point FK Sutjeska led the table with an unbeaten record and a 12
point lead over champions FK Buducnost, and seemingly red-hot certainties to
regain the title they last won in 2018/19. However, they then picked up only
two points in their next 4 matches, losing 0-2 at home to Decic, drawing 3-3 at
Buducnost after holding a 2 goal lead, got thumped 0-3 at OFK Petrovac and were
then held to a 1-1 draw at home to Mornar. Having conceded a mere 4 goals in
the opening 14 matches, 9 were conceded in the next four.
After round 18 their lead had
been reduced to just 6 points, but a 3-0 home victory over struggling FK
Podgorica, thanks to three goals in the last 20 minutes, steadied the ship and
restored the gap to second place to 8 points.
31 year old striker Darko Nikac (
ex Buducnost and 3 caps ) is their top scorer on 6 goals, whilst Bozo Markovic,
the league’s leading scorer in 2020/21 has 5 goals. 19 year old Under 21
International Nikola Janjic has 4 goals to his name, but hasn’t scored since
October 2nd. Midfielder Vladimir Jovovic, 43 caps and ex Red Star
Belgrade and Jablonec, is rated by Transfermkt as the most valuable player in
the league at 600K Euros.
FK Decic are the nearest contenders to Sutjeska, having lost just
twice but drawn 9 times. The two losses came in consecutive weeks in September
during a run of 6 games without a win, but a run of 11 games with a defeat has
seen them climb back up from 5th into 2nd place. Against
both Sutjeska and Buducnost, Decic have been able to take 4 points.
In round 16 they fought out a 4-4
draw at home to OFK Petrovac and in round 18 they dropped more home points to
Podgorica, although this was probably a point gained as they were losing 0-2
after 88 minutes in a swamp ! A 1-0 win over bottom side Zeta in the last game
before the break saw them move above Buducnost and into the silver medal
position.
Ilir Camaj and Kristijan Vulaj are
joint top scorers with 7 goals each, whilst veteran Drasko Bozovic’s form earnt
an unexpected call-up back to the national side.
It is fair to say that champions FK
Buducnost have had a disappointing season. Crashing out of Europe at the
first two hurdles ( to HJK Helsinki and HN Torshavn ), and with only 2 wins (
and three losses ) in their first 8 league matches, 5 consecutive victories
revived their hopes and brought back the crowds. Although they fell to an
undeserved home loss to Decic in round 14, missing a bag full of chances in the
process, 8 points in their next 4 matches took them to within 6 points of
stuttering Sutjeska. Their inconsistency returned in their last game before the
break, going down 1-3 at mid-table FK Rudar after conceding two goals in the
last 10 minutes, to fall back to third place and 9 points off the leaders.
However, a good run in the spring could still see the title being retained.
With 36 goals, Buducnost are the
highest scorers in the league. Current international midfielder Milos Raickovic
is their top scorer with 8 goals, and ex-international midfielder Igor Ivanovic
has 7.
OFK Petrovac lie in 4th place, two points adrift of
Buducnost, and could lay claim to being the great entertainers of the league,
with 62 goals being scored in their 19 games. Consistency has been an issue
though, capable of thrashing and drawing with Sutjeska and taking 4 points off
Decic, they also lost twice to Iskra and drew twice with bottom of the table
Zeta.
Unsurprisingly they have the top
scorer in the league, midfielder Marko Milikcovic has found the net 10 times,
whilst Bosnian striker Adnan Basic, previously of UNA Strassen and UTA Petange
in Luxembourg, has 8 goals.
Fifth place FK Iskra sit 4
points behind Petrovac and the potential 4th place for European
football, but should they win their game in hand, the gap would be down to a
single point. With just 17 goals conceded they have the second best defensive
record in the division, but the 19 goals scored also tells a story. After round
16, Iskra were 4th and just one point off second place, but a 0-0
draw at Podgorica, and successive 0-1 home defeats to Jezero and Mornar saw
them slip back. Their high points of the season to date have been the 2-1 home
win over Buducnost, a 4-1 win over Petrovac and a home draw with Sutjeska.
Vojin Pavlovic has scored 5 times
for Iskra, with Japanese midfielder Sho Yamamoto the next best with 3. English
winger Leo Jaukovic has made one substitute appearance for Iskra.
Newly promoted FK Mornar
have had a decent season, and if they can maintain some reasonable form, should
at least avoid the relegation play-offs, and their victory at Iskra in the
catch-up match took them up to 6th and 6 points clear of the danger
zone. Like Iskra, they don’t score many, but don’t concede many either.
They started with 4 wins and a
draw in their first 5 matches but have found life at the highest level much
harder since, and they had recorded just one win in 13 until the victory at
Iskra. Their best results have been a 1-1 draw at Buducnost, a 1-0 win at Decic
and a 1-1 draw at Sutjeska and whilst they have a noteworthy 4-4-2 away record,
the home form of 2-2-5 has let them down . 35 year old ex-Sutjeska striker
Marko Cetkovic, the league’s leading scorer in 2019/20, has three goals.
FK Rudar’s round 19 victory over Buducnost moved them 5 points
away from the relegation play-off places. Located in the northern mountains of
the country, they have made their home a bit of a fortress with a 3-5-2 record,
where only Sutjeksa and Podgorica have emerged victorious, but away from home
they are 3-0-6, with victories at Podgorica, Jezero and Mornar. 19 year old striker Vuk Strikovic and Ghanaian
forward Suraka Zakaria both have 6 goals.
After round 14, FK Jezero
were in 8th place, 5 points away from the safety of 7th
place. Two more defeats followed, but 7 points from their last 3 matches has
seen them keep the gap to 5 points. The highpoints of their season have been a
1-0 win at Buducnost, and two victories over both Iskra and Zita. Three players
are level on two goals for top scorer.
FK Podgorica, who qualified for the Europa Conference last season, are
one point behind in 9th but have steadily been improving, and have
gathered 11 points from their last 6 matches, with the 0-3 defeat at Sutjeska
on the last day being the only defeat. Two draws have been achieved against
Decic, whilst their victories came against Jezero ( twice ), Rudar & Zeta.
Having qualified for Europe two
season again, FK Zeta have had a hugely disappointing season, with just
one win from 18 games, a 2-0 win in round 17 at home to Rudar. They did manage
home draws with Decic and Buducnost though, but they will need to display
championship form to avoid the relegation play-offs and make up the 13 point
gap. 20 year old striker Ivan Vukcevic has been the one bright spot with 7
goals so far.
Buducnost have been the best
supported side with an average home attendance of 861 whilst Jezero have the
worst average with 135. The average for the league is 309. The highest
attendance was 2,500 for the 3-3 draw between FK Buducnost and FK Sutjeska.
Round 19
December 8, 2021
FK Sutjeska 3-0 FK Podgorica (
att : 200 )
FK Rudar Pljevlja 3-1 FK
Buducnost ( att : 150 )
FK Iskra
Danilovgrad 0-1 FK Jezero ( att : 200 )
FK Decic Tuzi
1-0 FK Zeta ( att : 250 )
OFK Petrovac 2-0
FK Mornar ( att : 400 )
Round 16
Catch-up
December 12,
2021
FK Iskra
Danilovgrad 0-1 FK Mornar ( att : 150 )
FK Jezero 2-1 FK
Zeta ( att : 100 )
Round 19 Highlights : http://www.rtcg.me/sport/pregledcfl/344406/pregled-19-kola-telekom-1-cfl.html
2021/22 Montenegrin
Cup
The Montenegrin
Cup has reached the semi-final stages, although the draw for the last 4 is yet
to be made. The four surviving sides are the top three, Sutjeska, Decic &
Buducnost plus fifth placed Iskra. The
winners qualify for the Europa Conference, with the 4th place in the
league table qualifying if the winner finishes in the top three.
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