The Spanish basketball coach, Sergio Scariolo, has assured that they must prepare “well” for the meetings against North Macedonia (this Friday) and Georgia (next Monday in Jaén), the start of qualifying for the 2023 World Cup, and has affirmed that “at this point” does not feel especially “any type of pressure”, although they know that they start “from scratch” and that some teams have “more strength and more experience”. The team, with 16 concentrated players, has started training this Monday in Guadalajara. And on Thursday at noon he will travel to Skopje, North Macedonia, for the first match of the first qualifying window for the aforementioned 2023 World Cup. new team manager Carlos Jiménez, former former player.
“At this point I can’t say I feel any pressure. It is a joy to be with the team, with players that I already know, others that I have followed in the training teams … We are world champions, with an incredible feat two years ago now, totally out of forecast, but precisely because of the international replacement phase, with many players who have changed, we started from scratch, knowing that there are many teams that theoretically have more strength and more experience“, he pointed.
Therefore, he aimed to think about the closest matches and put the classification on track. “Right now we have to prepare well, play the first game against North Macedonia and the second against Georgia, and we will see what will happen in the following Windows, if we will be able to classify“, it manifested.
On the debut in Skopje, the Italian coach recalled that he was recently in Podgorica, “where it all began”. “The first Window, with unknowns, fear, a group of players who had not been in the senior team … and it turned out fantastic, we started by winning a great game and little by little we built a team to become world champions. So there is to start, face the rivals he plays and do well, “he explained.
Finally, Scariolo was happy with the group of players he has. “There are some who have already proven to be part of the team, at least in the Windows, others that we want to start testing the climate of the National Team, the concepts, because we are following them, they are still not ready but they could be and we are interested in having already participated … And there are others who have shown that at this level they control it well and that they can perfectly compete because they have already done so “, he finished.
The 16 players called up:
Alberto Díaz (Unicaja). 27 years
Dani Pérez (Baxi Manresa). 31 years
Quino Colom (AEK Athens). 33 years
Jaime Fernández (Unicaja). 28 years
Darío Brizuela (Unicaja). 27 years
Joan Sastre (Lenovo Tenerife). 29 years
Xabi López-Aróstegui (Valencia Basket). 24 years
Joel Parra (Joventut). 21 years
Oriol Paulí (MoraBanc Andorra). 27 years
Jonathan Barreiro (Unicaja). 24 years
Dani Díez (Inherited by San Pablo Burgos). 28 years
Miquel Saved (Gran Canaria). 27 years
Jaime Pradilla (Valencia Basket). 20 years
Yankuba Sima (Baxi Manresa). 25 years
Fran Guerra (Lenovo Tenerife). 28 years
Víctor Arteaga (MoraBanc Andorra). 29 years
Quino Colom: “The best thing that can happen to an athlete”
The world champion base, who has flown from Athens (plays for AEK), is the captain of this call. “Very proud and happy to wear this shirt again,” he says. is the best thing that can happen to an athlete, so enjoy it very much and do your best. We are used to it, the first time it was a bit of a surprise but now we know exactly how it works. But When you wear this shirt, you have a very great responsibility and we have to try not to think about the afterlife. Now we are here and we have to give it our best ”.
“Premiere captaincy, something that is also nice for any player and I want to try to help young people which is the first time he comes, to set an example from the track “
“In a qualification for the World Cup all the rivals are very dangerous and you have to be careful and respect everyone. It is a possibility to once again show everyone that there are many very good Spanish players, that the national product is of good quality and they can help the teams a lot, more than they continue to do in the clubs”.
