Italy coach Gianmarco Pozzecco. –FIBA BASKETBALL
MANILA, Philippines — Italy coach Gianmarco Pozzecco desires the Azzurri to dream large of their Tenth Fiba World Cup look as they kick off their Group A marketing campaign towards Angola on Friday at Philippine Enviornment in Bocaue, Bulacan.
“My aim is that my gamers dream. Dream and revel in and proceed to like one another, respect one another, respect my workers,” mentioned Pozzecco within the introductory press convention on Thursday at Good Araneta Coliseum. “Love the sport. All that basketball can provide you, constructive emotion. They did a fairly good job, so I really like them and respect them.”
With the Italians raring to return to the highest 4 for the primary time because the 1978 version in Manila, workforce captain Luigi Datome hopes that they are going to proceed to play on the identical web page for them to translate their good 7-0 report from their friendlies into World Cup success.
“We’re a workforce that loves to remain collectively. We like to play collectively. We all know that if we will play the identical type of basketball, we will be harmful,” mentioned Datome. “The aim is to play as many minutes as potential in that manner. I’m actually excited. Very completely happy to be right here. All of the levels are unbelievable. One month of preparation, very excited, can not wait as a result of we labored out on this nation and we’re able to go.”
Italy, presently ranked Tenth on this planet in males’s Fiba competitions, took down Turkey, China, Serbia, Greece, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and New Zealand to comb all their tune-up video games earlier than the World Cup.
Datome, the remaining member of Italy’s Tenth-place end within the 2019 World Cup in China, desires to take one step at a time in Group A, specializing in Angola first on Friday earlier than considering of residence workforce Gilas Pilipinas on Sunday at Good Araneta Coliseum.
“From the little expertise I’ve, we give attention to one sport at a time, and our focus is on Angola. In two days, we take into consideration the Philippines. However in fact, they’re an excellent workforce. They’ll be powerful. A number of followers, rowdy followers, noisy followers, however now we give attention to Angola,” mentioned the previous NBA participant.
Pozzecco, who confessed to being an enormous Manny Pacquiao fan, agreed with Datome: “Gigi’s proper. We give attention to Angola. In fact, we all know, we are going to play not simply towards one workforce, however towards one nation. However we are going to assist them, our gamers. It is going to be good for us.”
All eyes are on Utah Jazz winger, Simone Fontecchio, who emerged because the Italians’ most important man of their previous three main tournaments within the World Cup qualifiers, EuroBasket, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
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