The pivot wing spoke of the preparation carried out by the National Team with a view to the South American in San Luis. She highlighted the locality, the desire to play and the goal of qualifying for the Americup.
The Argentine National Team continues to work with a view to the South American Seniors in San Luis (from August 1st to 6th). Less than two weeks before the start of the tournament, the team led by Gregorio Martínez is working with a roster of 15 players after disaffecting Magalí Vílches and Nicole Tapari. The team will continue training in Buenos Aires until next Sunday, to then embark on a trip to San Luis lands and face the last leg of the preparation.
With Argentina facing a new challenge on its horizon, Victoria Llorente reflected on the current situation that the National Team is experiencing within this concentration and the practices that are carried out in the Ciudad Vicente López de Platense. “We are motivated and looking forward to it. More than anything after the last time we had the Covid thing in the middle of the tournament and we were disqualified (NdR: Americup 2021, in Puerto Rico). We had something pending inside, and now we are leaving everything in this preparation to get to San Luis in the best possible way. We channeled all that sadness and anger from the beginning into energy and desire to come to this call with the maximum intensity and concentration. We want to arrive in the best possible way and the fact that we can play this South American game at home, in Argentina, motivates us even more”.
Asked about the weather that will be experienced in San Luis from August 1 playing at home, the 26-year-old power forward recalled one of the last tournaments that took place in our country in recent years, which he had to live from out due to a ligament injury in his left knee. She went to the Americup 2017, a contest held in Obras Sanitarias and with Argentina runner-up.
“I had to live from outside the Americup that was played in Obras because I had a knee injury. I remember that the atmosphere back then was incredible, one would get goosebumps and she would be moved just by seeing it from the outside. Now I hope for that and more, the more people the better because for us it will be like having one more player on the field. We hope to fill and meet the expectations of the people, who we know will go with great enthusiasm ”said.
In sports and thinking about what will be the South American in San Luis, Argentina will be part of Group A of the tournament sharing an area with Venezuela, Ecuador and Paraguay. The Albiceleste matches of this first phase will be at the Arena La Pedrera in Villa Mercedes, seeking to qualify among the best two of said round to achieve the first objective of the tournament: qualification for the Americup 2023. Beyond wanting to reach the pass continental as a key point, we must also remember that the National Team will go out to defend the title obtained in the Sudamericano de Tunja 2018, when it managed to rise again with a contest of this level after 70 years.
“The main objective is to qualify for next year’s Americup. Then we come from being champions in the last South American and some may think that this exerts a bit of pressure, but we go calm knowing what we play and the work we have to do. We must go game by game with maximum concentration, seeking to meet the objectives and trying to go as far as possible “explained Llorente, who in turn recounted the meaning that the Olympic dream has for the National Team: “Paris 2024 is a dream, we have been dreaming of it for a long time. Things were happening to us and we had several spokes in the wheel, but I think we are all with a cool head and with the desire to be able to achieve that dream once and for all “.
It will be necessary to go through a series of obstacles before projecting concretely to the desire to be able to play an Olympic Game for the first time in history, however, both Llorente and all of Argentina know that this South American in San Luis is the first of the several steps that the Selection must go towards that dream. Consulted with the gap with respect to Europe, Victoria highlights the quality of the preparation that she carries out with the National Team and the evolution that the women’s basketball infrastructure has shown in our country.
“It is clear that we have a huge height difference with Europe, taking out other differences in environment and structure, which is something to highlight because over the years we are getting better and better and today we are on a par in terms of the preparation of the European teams. . Then we must focus on improving our physique because the difference in height, tactics and talent with respect to European teams is and exists, so we try to enhance our strongest points and physique to be on par with them “hill.
