Manolopoulos to the players of the national team: “You have… so much!”

The character of his players was discussed by Sotiris Manolopoulos after the victory of the National team over Serbia with 97-92 in overtime. “You have… so many“, the federal coach said in the locker room, making a characteristic movement with his hands.

Speaking on the EEC website, he showed his confidence in the players that he doesn’t just treat as… filling in the vacancies that arise due to the NBA and Euroleague. “You know, and I had told my partners as well, seeing how these guys trained in the four days we were together, I thought we could win, not just be competitive. I had said something to them the first day we met. That they didn’t come here to play two qualifying matches and… leave, they came to claim their stay, meaning that I think it’s certain that some of them will grab the opportunity to be present at the World Cup as well. It hasn’t been a favor to any of those players, another one that maybe they should have waited because there were others ahead of them in their positions. They are players with a great perspective, who are on their way and can stand at the level required by the National team. I have said many times that we have to look carefully at the new generation of players, but not give them the gift, let them show that they seize the opportunities. It was really beautiful everything that happened, the whole evening. The presence of the people was impressive, my “thank you” is not typical, like the whole team, their contribution was greatSotiris Manolopoulos said.

On Saturday (25/2), the national team trained at OAKA in order to leave early on Sunday morning for the match against Latvia on Monday (19:30), where the goal, despite the new problems (except yesterday’s big star, Nikos Rogavopoulos) victory remains. “The same as Friday, there is nothing else to discuss. We have said it since the first day, both us and the children, it does not make sense to play for the National Team and not think about giving your best and fighting for victory. Moreover, it deserves a good finale in all this effort of months, through many obstacles that the process has for all the teams, which brought the Greek National Team to another big basketball event, so that it can claim things”.