It’s Cup time. It’s time to get excited, again, with this Spar Girona. It’s time to change the chip again and think that we have Uni just three games away from a title. L’Estudiantes awaits Roberto Íñiguez’s team in the quarter-finals of the competition tomorrow (8.30pm) in Huelva, and the Girona girls will show up with all the ambition in the world, or at least that’s the talk. “Uni must be in the finals and win them”, two authoritative voices in the dressing room, Ainhoa López and Sandra Ygueravide, have admitted today, bluntly.
They say they haven’t talked about any possible celebration in the event of victory, but they don’t hide that despite the irregular year they’re having, this is the goal. “The idea is to win”, insisted the base, who recalled that the Cup “it is the most beautiful competition for all the teams and for the fans”. If against Besiktas, in the semi-finals of the Eurocup, the plan drawn up by Íñiguez in the recovery operation failed, now the recipe is to “play all the games with a winning mentality and without going any further”. “The team has come together more with everything that has happened to us and now we just have to give everything first in the Cup and then in the league”, assured López.
Bertsch, Canella and Ygueravide during this afternoon’s training, with Íñiguez and Sargatal in the background / Marc Martí Font
The first opponent will be Estudiantes tomorrow, in the “most difficult” quarter-finals of the entire competition. The Madrid women are, in fact, ahead of Uni in the league (fourth and fifth, respectively, with the same record of 15 wins but one more game for the collegiates) and they will not be easy to defeat (in Fontajau in the league they prevailed by a clear 60-78 which ended up costing the dismissal of Laura Antoja). “We have to play our game, have the mentality that every game is a world. Anyone can surprise the Cup”, recalled Sandra Ygueravide. According to the base “they are a tough and physical opponent, it will be key to maintain our rhythm and not play what they want”. Ainhoa López seconded it: “game by game we will have to beat the best rivals to win the title. Estudiantes is the first and it will make it difficult for us». The path is also marked by the 56-65 in the league match in Madrid, where Uni recovered from the defeat in the first leg at home.
The two Spar Girona players do not believe that the fact that the Cup does not secure a place in the Euroleague will not reduce their competitiveness: “it is a title and all the players want is to win titles for our clubs”, she indicated Aihoa López. And Ygueravide has received it: “winning it could give us more faces at the end of the season”, which is exciting. Having won the Cup this week, the league will enter the final stretch, with a frenetic last five days that will reveal the play-off matches.
The Girona girls will travel with the whole team, including Labuckiene, who has missed the last two matches due to the injury he sustained against Perfumerías Avenida in one of the first actions of the match. His participation in the tournament is unknown. However, according to what the players have explained, the moment when Íñiguez will miraculously have all 12 professionals at her disposal does not seem far off. If they defeat Estudiantes this Thursday in the quarterfinals, the opponent in the semifinals would come from Valencia-IDK Euskotren.
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2024-03-19 19:55:08
#Uni #finals #win
