Last week, we brought you all the news from the Zagreb Minifootball Championships, which saw Maredo Grill cook up a stunning victory.
This time around we speak exclusively to one of their star players, Jurica Mihovec to get his views on the way things turned out and also his wider opinions on minifootball in Croatia.
Jurica, The season ended successfully for you, tell us your thoughts on how it went and on the rival teams?
The season was tense and exciting. Three of us were real competitors, whilst the others remained at a slightly lower level than us (without any underestimation of course), but in the end it turned out that we are not against one of the fancied teams and had to fight until the end of the title.
How do you like minifootball?
Mininogomet suits us very much because it is not like a futsal competition. It is a sport that most play all last year. We like the whole project, from League appearances for the national team through to the Champions League and fighting with other European teams.
Several players from Maredo Grill has qualified for the Croatian national team, does this make you proud?
Yes, I think they deserve the games. I believe that a few more players from our team has the right to hope for a call up because they have quality but for now, the choice fell on just a few.
Soon it will be the National finals, how do you assess your chances of fighting for the Croatian champion?
Maredo Grill is a very good team, as I said, we’re all friends, both on the field and outside it means a lot to us, we go way back and we’re playing together for a long time, this is our advantage. We are sure there are many good teams, so the comparison difficult, but we believe in our quality and I think we will go far.
The new season kicks off in September, and Maredo Grill defend the title. What are your goals for the new season? Will the team change?
Any Changes could be primarily due to other obligations and international transfer of some of our players, otherwise nothing would be unchanged because the team only laid according to our friendship. The plans are the same as this year … 1st place!
Given that you have won the championship of Zagreb, and your performances will be followed by the media, surely interest the sponsors will be higher, given the crew will carry the same name and the following season?
As far as sponsors, we’re still in negotiations, many have recognized our quality and excellent promotion with the mininogomet, so we weighed offer, and until then only Maredo Grill!
At the end of our conversation, which sent a message to those who are thinking of applying Croatian minifootball championship?
My message to the teams that sign up in large numbers, is that the league is great, that everyone can improve and learn from teams like Maredo Grill and that we will again be the first … and the second place there is enough .. . and let the guys fight!! Haha!! Of course this is a little joke!! It would be fantastic to see more teams to sign up, and to be part of a great project, and enjoy the minifootball games, as we did every weekend.