Despite the Vukovi and the Wild Boars having a combined record of 1-3 thus far in the 2007 season, the match between these two teams will remain a fierce competition until proven otherwise. The match on Saturday, starting at 5PM in Belgrade, continuous the rivalry.
The Vukovi will play their first game on the new field they are using in Belgrade; the new stadium has artificial turf on the field so the playing conditions will be better than ever. The team has printed 1000 tickets that will become available two hours prior to the start of the game, and the gates will open one hour before kickoff. As usual when it comes to Belgrade, the spectators will be entertained at halftime by a local group, but with one addition this time – sponsored by Belgrade papers 24 Hours, after every touchdown of the home team, cheerleaders will toss lollipops into the crowd. One of those will be marked and the lucky winner will receive a gold coin as prize after the game.
The Kragujevac Wild Boars will arrive to Belgrade with their three game win streak against the Vukovi. After all three wins coming last year, including the final when they won the title, the Boars are looking to avoid a three game losing streak in 2007. That will be hard with injuries continuing to pile up and subsequent poor performances on the field have left the team in a fight for the playoffs very early on.
The Vukovi have had a similar start, losing their first game to Dukes, but have since recovered with a hard earned win in Rudersdorf last week and will now be looking to catch Novi Sad at the top.
“I expect a win, the team has really gotten a kick with the win in Austria and we’re looking forward to play. They’re missing some players, while we have new good players and a new coach. It took a little time for us to start playing well, but I think we’ll be all right now”, says Andrej Tasić, Belgrade’s starting quarterback.
He doesn’t expect anyone on his team to take Kragujevac for granted, in light of their win in Austria. After missing the final because of injury in the final regular season game against Kragujevac, he says this game is just like any other.
“I have no additional motives because of that, but from what I see the other guys are pretty fired up.”
Aleksandar Ristić of Kragujevac thinks his team has nothing to fear.
“All our matches thus far have justified the derby label, so I don’t see why that won’t be the case with this one. A lot of bad luck and injuries will prevent us from playing with our best players and therefore playing our best, but if we show the spirit and dedication we showed in Slovenia we have nothing to fear.”