Gianmarco Pozzecco spoke at a press conference after Italy beat Puerto Rico in a direct matchup to reach the quarterfinals of the FIBA World Cup.
After an extremely difficult game with a huge dose of nervousness, Italy outplayed Puerto Rico with a score of 73:57. For those who didn’t watch, it sounds convincing, but Nelson Colon’s team put up extremely strong resistance against Italy, only to “break down” in the last quarter before the favored representative of the Italy.
“I love my players, I adore them, because they are great. They are focused on what they are doing. I asked them before the game to show that they are a team and they showed it on the pitch. It’s passion.
We played against a team that played extremely well in the FIBA World Cup. I want to congratulate coach Nelson Colon for that, as well as Carlos Arroyo, my great friend. I also want to thank my coaching staff, because I think they are great” – said Gianmarco Pozzecco.
The matches in which he played as a player for the national team compared to the matches he leads as a coach
“It’s incomparable. At that moment, everything was different, I respected my teammates and coach Bogdan Tanjevic. He is one of the best people I have ever met in my life. However, it cannot be compared. What my players did tonight, and not only tonight, cannot be compared with any Italian national team in history.
We won silver at the 2004 Olympic Games, that’s a great result, everyone mentions it for a reason. However, even then we did not show what this Italian national team is showing.”
Defense
“Two games to win or go home. First Serbia, then Puerto Rico and we are still here. Serbia scored 86 points. and Puerto Rico tonight 57. I don’t like to talk about statistics, because it shows a lot, but not the essence. My players showed character, they played every possession as if it was the last. That’s why it can’t be compared with any Italian national team that played before.”
Serbia is playing for next phase against the Dominican Republic
“Serbia is one of the best teams in the world. Puerto Rico played great basketball and showed talent, as did the Dominican Republic. You never know, but I believe in Serbia. I respect the Dominican Republic not only because they beat us, but because they have quality. It will be an uncertain game, but because of my friend Predrag Danilovic, I’m rooting for them. I love Danilovic!”
Luigi Datome
“What’s amazing is that he never talks about himself. For him, this is all like a dream. He wants gold with Serbia and to be MVP of the final. It was he who directly influenced the final outcome of the last two games. He’s a legend, believe me, I’ve played with a lot of players, but Luigi is unique. There’s just no one like him.”
USA vs Lithuania
“It will be a difficult game, but we are not looking at that. We are focused on ourselves. If we had thought about where we would play and against whom before coming to the tournament, we would have been in trouble. These players want to give their maximum and make a result.
That’s what we do. Every day is amazing for us. Tonight we will celebrate, we will go to a restaurant, we will stay together, so we will be ready for any opponent. Whether against the United States of America or against Lithuania, it doesn’t matter to us” – said Gianmarco Pozzecco.
At the end, the Italy coach added with a smile that he would give his players a credit card to reward themselves for reaching the quarterfinals.