Zlatko Kranjcar has been dismissed from his position as Montenegro coach and replaced by his assistant Branko Brnovic ahead of their UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier against England next month.

The move, announced by the Football Association of Montenegro, comes in the wake of Friday's 2-1 defeat by Wales, which left Montenegro needing victory over England and Switzerland in their final two matches to secure qualification.

England would secure top spot with a draw in Podgorica on 7 October, while Montenegro are three points clear of Switzerland in the battle for second place and a play-off place.

This decision is not easy, but we considered a number of reasons and this is the only possible and correct solution at this point.
Momir Durdevac, FCSG secretary general

"After the latest round of qualifiers, the position of our team is not as comfortable as it was before, especially before the match against Bulgaria and then Wales," FCSG secretary general Momir Durdevac said.

"It had appeared we would either qualify directly or at least finish second safely, and so become a play-off participant, but after the last two results we are now in a situation where we enter into the final round of qualifiers with a great deal of uncertainty.

"Analysing the reasons for this, the board concluded that the coach Zlatko Kranjcar had not performed to his best, especially in the last two matches, and unanimously decided to dismiss the coach.

"This decision is not easy, but we considered a number of reasons and this is the only possible and correct solution at this point."