Papadopoulos: “The children show that they can do anything!”

The qualification to the U20 EuroBasket semi-finals was celebrated on Thursday night (13/07) by National Youth, prevailing with a stunning display 87-61 of Turkey, despite the fact that we were behind in the score by 13 points at the beginning of the second period!

Speaking after the game, the Federal coach, Kostas Papadopoulosfocused on the great upset, but also on the reaction of his players, while he also referred to the very difficult game with France in the semifinals of the event.

In detail what Costas Papadopoulos said:



“From the beginning, we set a goal to find rhythm from our defense. We didn’t start well, but along the way we tightened up our defense, ran into the open court and found a rhythm. The kids really believed in it from the beginning, they showed passion and I think we got a very big victory. But we also have continuity. We’re playing if not the best, one of the best teams, in Saturday’s semi-final, but these guys are showing they can do anything. The world today was our sixth player, we definitely want more in the stands and we promise that we will again give 100% and that they will be satisfied with our passion.”

THE Nassos Basinaswho once again perfectly organized and distributed the game of the National Team stated: “We all gave everything we had and didn’t have. We had promised since June 3 that we would die on the field no matter what. This is our image, this is who we are. We are very happy for the victory, but from tomorrow we are thinking about the next match. We go to the semi-final focused, forget what came before and move forward together as a team.”

THE Alexandros Kalaitzakis who played his own decisive role stated: “It was a tough race from the start, but we came in with energy, gave everything and managed to get the win. Turkey don’t score much in attack, so we pressed them, we tired them and they collapsed at the end. But now the tournament starts for us, in the semi-final against France on Saturday. We want the people by our side to give us energy and to be able to reach the grand final on Sunday”.