This Saturday, from 8.30 am in our country, those led by Daniel Farabello face Spain at the opening of the international competition. In the previous one, the word of the base Mateo Díaz.
The wait is over. After much expectation, several months and three concentrations of work, the U19 Men’s National Team will debut in the World Cup of the category, which will take place from July 3 to 11 in Riga, capital of Latvia.
It will be the official return to international competition for our training teams from the end of 2019. In Riga, our boys will share Group C against Spain, Korea and France, who arrive with different realities.
In the pre-debut, we spoke with Mateo Díaz, base of the team, who joined the delegation in Europe, after having achieved promotion to Liga Endesa with CB Breogán in his first season in Spain. The game, like all the games in the tournament, can be seen live from the channel that FIBA owns on YouTube.
-How was it like to meet up with your teammates after so long and join a team that had been training for a long time?
Meeting my colleagues and my friends was an immense joy because I had not seen them for a long time. Also meeting new guys who hadn’t been in previous years. It was nice to see them again, to see how each one has evolved and how they have leveled up.
-How did you feel and how did you see the team in these two friendly preparation matches?
Personally, I felt very good, although I had the advantage of coming at a competitive pace, something that some of the boys did not have, apart from being training very well at CeNARD. It helped me to be in competition. I joined well and I was able to accommodate the team without problems. From these friendlies we leave with good feelings. With Turkey we did not have a good result but we had very good passages of the game, just like against Estonia. We leave with good feelings to start the tournament.
-What do you think is the identity of the team?
I think the identity will be what the coach marks. Defend hard and try to score before seven seconds and if we don’t score, play parked. We try to be a fierce team, to be very strong in defense, because that will affect how we behave in attack.
-How do you imagine your debut against Spain?
It’s going to be a nice game. It is a team very similar to us. They don’t have as big players as other teams can have. I think it will be an even game in which we are going to take advantage and enjoy a lot.
-It is your second experience in a World Cup, in addition to playing 100% and leaving everything, what do you think Argentina has to do to compete with the European powers of the group?
Of course, give 100%, but also be focused because we have very little margin for error. You have to be focused, united as a team. And peel. Fight the forty minutes, you can’t relax for a second, that’s going to be the most important thing.
NATIONAL TEAM U19
Alejo Azpilicueta
Size: 2.02m
Position: Alero
Date of Birth: 04/25/2002
Team: Bahía Basket
Nicolas Burgos
Size: 2.09m
Position: Pivot
Date of Birth: 7/25/2003
Team: Boca Juniors
Federico Copes
Size: 2.00m
Position: Alero
Date of Birth: 06/18/2002
Team: Platense
Gonzalo corbalan
Talla: 1.93m
Position: Base
Date of Birth: 03/03/2002
Team: Lubbock University (USA)
Mateo Diaz
Size: 1.91m
Position: Base
Date of Birth: 03/06/2002
Team: CB Breogán (ESP)
Juan Francisco Fernandez
Size: 2.10m
Position: Power Wing
Date of Birth: 11/21/2002
Team: Fuenlabrada (ESP)
Franco Mendez
Talla: 1.93m
Position: Escort
Date of Birth: 03/07/2002
Team: San Martín de Corrientes
Silvano Merlo
Size: 1.94m
Position: Escort
Date of Birth: 08/19/2002
Team: CB Ciudad de Ponferrada (ESP)
Bautista Ott Cywarlie
Size: 2.01m
Position: Pivot
Date of Birth: 07/04/2002
Team: Ameghino de Villa María
Mateo Perez
Size: 1.92m
Position: Base
Date of Birth: 07/17/2002
Team: Freedom of Sunchales
Manuel Rodriguez Ortega
Size: 2.02m
Position: Power Wing
Date of Birth: 02/05/2002
Team: Boca Jrs
Pedro Rossi
Size: 2.05m
Position: Power Wing
Date of Birth: 08/19/2002
Team: DME Academy (USA)
DT: Daniel Farabello
AT: Juan Manuel Gattone
AT: Federico Renzetti
PF: Matías Suhurt
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