Six days after the elimination of the selection in the second phase of the World Cup that this Sunday is resolved in Manila and after a gymkhana to return from Jakarta that has included delays, lost luggage and even a small car accident in Bologna – "Everything has happened to me!" -, Sergio Scariolo takes stock of a tournament that was a reality check for the team of the impossible, for the World gold in 2019 and European last summer ("incredible results"), and reflects on the exciting future in which, already with an offer from the FEB on the table, he would like to continue at the front.

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Basketball World Cup.

Lights and shadows of the future of the national team: the Olympic restlessness and the batch of stars that comes

  • Editor: LUCAS SÁEZ-BRAVO (Special Envoy)Jakarta

Lights and shadows of the future of the national team: the Olympic restlessness and the batch of stars that comes

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Basketball World Cup.

Germany-Serbia, soups or good wine? Doubt offends

  • Writing: PABLO MARTÍNEZ

Germany-Serbia, soups or good wine? Doubt offendsAre you surprised by the final between Germany and Serbia? USA-Canada was the final everyone was waiting for. There is no denying that there is a point of surprise. But seeing how Germany has played, I think the surprise is zero. And Serbia has shown its typical competitiveness, despite the absences.Does this World Cup have any parallels with the Tokyo Games, where the selection also came after an unexpected gold and did not reach the medals? I don't think so at all. Those golds were incredible results, above any expectations and the real potential of the team. Things that occur once every many years, in our case happened twice, something extraordinary. Two matches that are resolved in the last shot could have gone to the opposite side ... But we knew this could happen. Perhaps thinking more about facing France, although with all due respect to Latvia. We were with the illusion of fighting to the maximum as we have done, but also with awareness of what our reality is, that of a team with people with great values, with character, with a brutal collective spirit, but also a selection in which only one player was a starter in his team. And it was Joel Parra and not on the Warriors or the Lakers. That magnifies the effort of the players. The reality is what it is and everyone has overcome it. Perhaps one or two have performed below what was expected, but never because of ill will or lack of desire, but because things have gone worse. Who has surprised you and who has disappointed you the most? Notes are given internally. At the level of trying, even if they were wrong, everyone has been at their best. Juan Núñez and Santi Aldama, who were in their first year of selection and who have had a hard time at times, for failing in the first important and decisive match ... It's typical. But they have managed to overcome quickly. And I'm sure it won't happen to them again. With them we have advanced an important work, something positive for the future. Juan Núñez.No remember a player of his age who has fallen such a fat brown. Being the starting point guard of a team that was going to be players of the caliber of Ricky Rubio or Lorenzo Brown. Such an extremely complicated task, I don't remember. It has had its strengths and weaknesses, but the progression has been interesting and positive. He has been acquiring personality and leadership. It has reduced the number of errors. It was and is the standard-bearer of our future project and has accelerated its incorporation process. I am extremely happy. I am left with his maturity, with his desire to learn. With the respect he has earned. I had two or three companions who when Ricky happened and understood that my choice was to bet on Juan as a starter, they expressed their doubts and their perplexity. This guy was a substitute for a Eurocup team and had never played in a competition of this size. They have come to tell me that it has surprised them for good. The mistakes he can make, we accept them, because they have a meaning, they are not the mistakes of a child.What happened in those last two quarters against Latvia and Canada? Just remember the last quarters of the competitions we have won. Who had the ball in their hand? The fourth rooms with well. We have lacked more defensive performance from players with more offensive quality. And more ability to generate danger in the most defensive cut. Balance. To have a quintet of reference, which could both attack and defend. Those have been the factors by which we built incredible advantages, in the end we have not been able to maintain them.

Scariolo, in the match against Canada.ALBERTO NEVADOFEB

Playing like the first 30 minutes against Canada, what would have happened in Manila? We could have beaten Canada and then, but it would still have been the typical bell, like in the World Cup and the European ... I am still clear that in the potential-basketball relationship expressed on the court, it has been one of the best I have had with a national team, although the result has been inferior. This time his famous tactical tricks were not seen so much. Why? It's that of the chimes. Surprises are less surprises when others have already seen you do it. We tried, but the teams were prepared. Latvia was very unsuitable to be faced with zonal defenses. And Canada punished us very well, attacked our big men, looked for advantages in the corners. We used them, but we had to remove them. And then there are a couple of factors. The years pass in key players of our defensive scheme. And we didn't have López Aróstegui, our glue, the one who last year had been doing wonderfully always dancing with the ugliest. We didn't have a player of that kind, reflecting later we realized.Have you talked to Ricky? We have exchanged messages, it has always been very close. On a human level. I want to talk to him calmly, and not necessarily about basketball, in the coming dates. Personal relationships are above anything. It was a hard blow, but he suffered the hardest. It's up to us to be close. He knows we're there. He has already had in his hands this summer the Golden Boys, Izan Almansa, Aday Mara, Hugo González and company. Are they so good? When? Not next summer yet, although then anything can happen and we are open. But the real moment to be able to have a team with talent, with physical stature, with the ability to play on both sides of the court and with some accumulated experience to join those who are already there, Juan, Pradi, Santi [Aldama], Joel [Parra], Usman [Garuba], would put him in the second half of the next Olympic cycle. If we manage to grow them well and put them in dynamics, there, in about three years, we can put a selection that, not only by values, by talent, can be tweeted with the best in Europe. Well... You have to be patient and careful with the forecasts. But all those who have entered this program, there are a few with capacity. They can form a very ambitious group. It will be the team that in the next 10 years will give war to everyone without having to make the triple somersaults that we have right now. He ends his contract after the London Games. Will he be at the forefront later with this generation? I'm excited. The Federation has already expressed to me its desire to renew, to follow the next Olympic cycle. Now there is an electoral process. But I have to decide whether to continue after this season combining the two positions. That is the biggest decision that awaits me. I will have to reflect a lot. They lived all the controversy with Rubiales in the World Cup bubble. What is your reflection? I felt sorry for the team, for the group of girls who have made an extraordinary sporting feat that has been talked about one day. I do not remember precedent of a country so pending a women's championship. And that everything has vanished... Everything that was usable for promotion has been diluted... Then, my reflection would not add anything new to what has already been said, everyone has seen what has happened, nobody can say that it has been right.

  • Canada
  • Latvia
  • Serbia
  • Germany
  • Luis Rubiales
  • Ricky Rubio
  • Basketball World Cup