Despair on the bench of the Czech national team, where coaches Štefan Svitek and Ivan Beneš are sitting.
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For the first time ever, the independent Czech national team finished the big tournament without winning. This has not happened to her at three Olympic Games (2004, 2008, 2012), three World Championships (2006, 2010, 2014) and thirteen participations in the European Championships so far.
“It’s not just a drop in the result, we have to look at it a little more broadly than the competition in women’s basketball in Europe today. It has spread. Bosnia has won two matches, defeated the strong Belgians. Let’s look at the Croats how they played. Some teams that were “they are not permanent participants in the European Championships at all. It needs to be seen in a broader context,” said Svitek.
Unlike the last two championships, one win would be enough for the Czech team to advance to the playoffs. But he did not manage the match with Croatia. “Catastrophic performance. I would call it an explosion. I have probably never experienced such helplessness as I did on the bench during my career. I really can’t explain the performance,” said the Slovak coach, who has been leading the team since September 2017.
“We have to see that the opponent played incredibly well. He went after us very aggressively, we lost the balloons. We couldn’t catch their onset in the second half. They sensed that now was their chance, they went after us a lot in defense, we couldn’t create good position, “said Svitek.
An unexpected debacle. The Czechs hoped to win at the European Championships, but they leave with a beating
Half of the players who made their debut at the big international event – Gabriela Andělová, Kristýna Brabencová, Eliška Hamzová, Julia Reisingerová, Natália Stoupalová and Veronika Šípová – received nominations from the half for the tournament. “In the future, perhaps it will come back to us that we gave the novices an opportunity, and the minutes we gave them will hopefully show later,” Svitek hoped.
The team is waiting for a change after the end of several supports and Svitek wants to continue working. “It’s hard to answer after such a match, but why not, it’s my job. After one failure or a bad result, should I pick myself up and go do something else? One has to reckon with that in this job. It’s evaluated and it’s in sight, “If I make a mistake. I’m very sorry for the fans at home and for those who weighed the way up here, that we gave such a performance, but I won’t change it now. That’s right,” said Svitek, who extended the contract to the end in April. season 2022/23.
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He has to deal with the absence of farewell Kateřina Elhotová, Romana Hejdová, Alena Hanušová or Renáta Březinová. “It will definitely not be easy. But even so far I would not say that it was easy, even though we had more experienced players,” Svitek added.
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