In the coming days the FIBA Open 2020 will be played and Uruguay will be represented with its ESports team. Santiago Falero, a member of the squad, spoke with Basketball Total about the contest that will be played on December 19 and 20.
Falero told how the preparation has been: “We have already played three friendlies against other teams such as the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Honduras, also against other teams of good level that we have been getting. The preparation has been good, we improve day by day and we are looking forward to the FIBA Open ”.
On his personal experience he expressed: “I have not played any tournament of this caliber so far, previously it was played in Argentina and Brazil in South America and now Bolivia, Venezuela and Uruguay have joined. We don’t know any players from Bolivia and Venezuela because we have never played and with Argentina and Brazil we don’t play because none of the three teams want to show their tactics. But we know the players, even against the Argentines we play constantly as we face each other in the League ”.
Representing the celestial has a special taste: “Without a doubt, representing Uruguay for me and my teammates is a source of pride, beyond discipline it is something incredible and we will defend it with everything. There is always some anxiety, we see how the FIBA Open is in Europe and Asia, that generates anxiety and to think how we have to play ”.
Santiago recalled how he arrived at the national team: “Last year an Argentine contacted me to play in Tigre, from there a South American and he introduced me to the community. I met several people, Juan Olave (captain of the national team) being one of them. He told me that he was interested in forming the national team, he got everything, he contacted those he thought were the best and that’s how we put it together. Today in the group we are 8 or 9 but we are 7 ”.
The support they have from the FUBB is important for the selection: “We presented the plan, they liked it and they accepted. The FUBB supports us, we had a meeting a few weeks ago where they took some photos of us; They gave us gifts and were at the disposal of what we needed. Darío Alberti was the photographer, he communicates through the networks and they post the information in the Federation ”.
Finally, he referred to how the Uruguayan experience and expectations will live in the competition: “I’m going to enjoy this moment because not everyone has the chance to play a tournament like this. We know that we do not have the responsibility of being favorites, we have more accessible games than others and we are clear about who our rival is to win to get to play that final. Argentina is the favorite, a direct rival and it is our debut and from that game, we will see what we are for ”.
