MADRID, 2 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish men’s basketball coach, Sergio Scariolo, stated this Saturday that “the trajectory” of the national team “does not end” against Canada “neither we win nor if we lose”, alluding to the decisive match that this Sunday (3:30 p.m.) will face their pupils to stay alive in the World Championship.
“We all have it very clear and I think there is little foresight in our favor a priori,” he said about the favoritism of the Canadians. “But there is no unbeatable rival, there is no such thing as an impossible match. I repeat, it is much more important… For me as well and for the team as well, that the trajectory of this team does not end tomorrow, neither if we win nor if we lose”, Scariolo told the media after training.
“The fundamental thing is to play it as our history and our tradition require it. With a very high concentration, with a very, very high capacity for effort, with a very high altruism, with the ability to participate in hard work and not just aesthetically “, by all the players. And in the end that’s the goal”, stressed the Italian coach, facing a vital duel to be or not in the quarterfinals.
Regarding the legacy of his work and his assistants at the FEB, Scariolo stressed that “there is much more to come” and added that “there is a past that must be maintained with great fidelity to our values, to our principles.” “Then, if they win because they’re better, they’re stronger, they’re more athletic, they’re great players, a great team, etc., we’ll congratulate them and move on,” he argued.
“The important thing is to play it, I repeat, as we usually do; as is the identity of this team, which has changed a lot. Of course, there are many players, almost all of them, who have to learn it or are learning it or are supposed to to have learned. And it is necessary to put it in field regardless of the final result, that at the end of the day you control until certain point”, explained the Italian.
“We know perfectly well first, that nobody plays at 100%; and second, that even playing at 10%, maybe you can lose because you play against an opponent. Everyone sees it with the United States in every final, right? So that’s the way sport is,” Scariolo told reporters in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“You have to face the game not reaching 100%, because that is impossible. I have never seen any team play 100% in any game, especially when on the other side is a defensively strong team, so athletic, so physical, that will force you to play very far from your 100%”, insisted Scariolo.
“It’s not so much the physical question, that’s a utopian objective, it’s not so much that. It’s knowing that you have to do what is in your hands and that it’s still not enough, but you leave the field calm because you have given it. That it’s still enough? Well, you leave the field calm and happy because you’ve won”, he concluded on the eve of the match.
2023-09-02 16:44:41
#trajectory #team #Canada #lose
