Yago wants to take the lead from Flamengo for basketball team

The Brazilian men’s basketball team starts this Friday (26) a new work cycle. After running out of place at the Tokyo Olympics, the team has changed coach and will begin to implement the renewal process in the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers.

The first appointments will be against Chile, at 6:10 pm on Friday and at 7:10 pm on Saturday (27), both broadcast on ESPN. The games take place in Buenos Aires, home of the “bubble” organized for the first round of the qualifying tournament in the Americas.

It will be the debut of coach Gustavo de Conti, 41, announced in September as replacement for Croatian Aleksandar Petrovic. Inside the court, athletes of different ages will have the chance to start trajectories of leadership in the national squad.

Medallions such as Anderson Varejão, 39, Alex Garcia, 41, and Marcelinho Huertas, 38, who wore the yellow-green jersey in recent decades and performed in the Pre-Olympic, in July, are not present. Marquinhos, 37, officially retired from the national team before participating in the tournament in which the Brazilians lost their chance of a place in Tokyo in the last game, against Germany.

Among the new candidates for protagonist is the guard Yago Mateus, 22. Named as one of the biggest revelations of Brazilian basketball in recent years, the athlete revealed in Palmeiras competes for the NBB since the 2016/17 season, when he made his professional debut for Paulistano.

After a vice-championship (2017) and an unprecedented title (2018) by the NBB with the club in São Paulo, in 2020 the shipowner was hired by Flamengo, the main power in the country.

In the red-black team, Yago started as a reserve for Argentine Franco Balbi, but replaced him after a serious injury to his teammate and led the team in a winning season. In addition to the national title, when Yago was named best player in the finals against São Paulo, the cariocas won the Champions League Americas.

Flamengo is also commanded by Gustavo de Conti, who two years before Yago had already taken the same path after leaving Paulistano. The duo’s winning past and present inspire confidence that the third meeting between Yago and Gustavinho, now in the national team, can also bear good results.

“In addition to teaching me, he accepted me for who I am. He managed to fit me into Paulistano without me having to change my style of play, aggressive and always running the court”, says the guard to sheet. “Putting a 17-year-old into a final, with a crowded gym, is for few people. So he’s a guy I trust a lot, and he trusts me a lot too.”

Yago is 1.78 m tall, considered short in basketball even for point guards, but he stands out mainly for his ability to score with shots and incisive attacks towards the basket. The style of play was supported by the coach and gave both, still on the São Paulo team, prominent positions on the national scene.

Mutual trust does not exempt the “little monster” (the athlete’s nickname) from the coach’s demands, known for his energetic style of command. According to the player, the constant reprimands serve for him to remain in evolution.

“I’ve never had a coach like him, who is on my toes every day. At first I thought he didn’t like me, but when the important moments came I was on the court. foot was because he wanted me to improve on something and that one day he would trust me,” he says.

Today Yago sees himself prepared to contribute far beyond scoring. Elevated to the position of starting point guard of Flamengo, he was well received by historical names of the rubro-negro team, such as veterans Olivinha, 38, and Marquinhos (currently at São Paulo).

Again on the rise at the start of the season for the club, the young man hopes to repeat the path in the Brazilian national team. “I’m still young, of course I’m going to make a lot of mistakes, but whenever there are moments of adversity I want to be the leader, take charge, because I was raised that way in my family and in basketball.”

Yago also likes to show that he’s down to earth. Charismatic, he captivated Flamengo fans quickly with his performance and by celebrating on the court in the same way as Gabigol. He doesn’t deny the dream of one day playing in the NBA or in the main European leagues, but he also talks calmly about the points where he can do better: defense, game reading, assists and team control.

The leadership and protagonism he seeks in the matches also began to be reflected outside of them. Recently, the athlete participated in the creation, together with his family, of the Monstrinho social project, aimed at children and teenagers from Tupã (his hometown, in the interior of São Paulo).

The daily activities, which have the sport as a backdrop at the Casa do Garoto de Tupã, is played by the player’s brother, Wilton Adriano, Mião.

“The project works in the daycare where my family grew up and that’s where I had my first contact with basketball. Today we can go back there and give back some of what basketball has given us. We want to give people an opportunity to dream of be not the next Yago, but whoever she wants to be. When I was six I could be part of that and look where I am today,” he says proudly.

Basketball World Cup Qualifiers-2023

Format

Sixteen teams from the Americas are divided into four groups. After round-trip games (six in total), the top three advance and form two new brackets, each with six teams. The initial results are carried over to the new stage, in which you only face those who were not in the same group in the previous stage.

The first three in each of the brackets and the best fourth place guarantee a place at the World Cup, which will be held from August 25th to September 10th, 2023, in three countries: Japan, Philippines and Indonesia.

Brazil

The country is in Group B, alongside Chile, Colombia and Uruguay. The next windows will be in February and June/July 2022. In the next phase, the opponents will leave the bracket that has the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Cuba.

Players summoned by Gustavo de Conti

Shipowners
Yago – Flemish
Elinho – Sao Paulo

Wings / Shipowners
Vitor Benite – Burgos-ESP
Georginho – SESI France

Alas
Gui Deodato – Mines
Rafa Mineiro – Flamengo
Gabriel Jaú – Bauru
Jonas Buffat – Pines

Wings/Pivots
Lucas Dias – SESI France
Bruno Caboclo – São Paulo
Timothy Soares – Ironi Ness Ziona-ISR

pivots
Lucas Mariano – SESI France
Cristiano Felício – Ratio Ulm-GER