Gregory Vargas is one of the most experienced players who will play for Venezuela at the upcoming FIBA World Cup.
In a conversation with Basketball Sphere, Gregory Vargas talked about Venezuela’s journey and the big surprise made in the qualifiers. Because of this, Argentina “suffered” the most.
He also talked about basketball development path in Venezuela and how different it is now than when he made his first basketball steps. Also, one thing is for sure. Vargas and his teammates are not coming to Okinawa with a white flag.
X factor – Concentration
Venezuela will be the most experienced team at the FIBA World Cup 2023. Their roster includes seven players who are at least 33 years old. Gregory Vargas is among them. When it comes to the list of final travelers to Mundobasket, there is no surprises.
During the qualifiers, five players played all 12 games, while six of them missed only one match. The road to the FIBA World Cup was not at all easy, although they had a 5-1 record after the first round of the qualification. The second step was less successful, but good enough to achieve huge success.
“It was extremely difficult, I must admit. We competed against extremely high-quality teams such as Canada and the Dominican Republic. Let’s take into account that Argentina was also there as world vice-champion. I have to say that concentration decided in the end.
The contribution of all players and a huge dose of sacrifice on the floor led us to the FIBA World Cup 2023. In this way, we continued to write the basketball history of Venezuela.” – explained Gregory Vargas.
The biggest surprise in the qualifiers
The qualifiers first round was perhaps the key to the final outcome. Venezuela played against the Argentina twice. First, they outplayed them at road in Buenos Aires by 71:58.
They were not lucky enough to do the same in Puerto La Cruz where they were defeated by three points at home. In the end, a better H2H decided that the Argentines will be the ones to watch the FIBA World Cup 2023 on TV screens.
“We played really good games against them. We knew that they are the World Cup vice-champion and that there was enormous pressure on them. I think that we used that kind of advantage in the best way. In the end, they were eliminated and it was the biggest surprise of the qualifiers for everyone.”
Reward for hard work
This will be Venezuela’s fifth appearance at the FIBA World Cup. They made their debut in 1990, only to wait 12 years for their next appearance. Then they played in two big competitions consecutively. They managed to do that even now after they advanced the group stage in China four years ago and finished in 14th place.
That means that Gregory Vargas will play at Mundobasket for the second time in his career. Along with his appearance at the 2016 Olympic Games, these three major events are highlight of his career.
“That’s right, this is my second FIBA World Cup. It’s a really amazing feeling to get a place at such an event and represent your country once again. I look at it as a reward for the hard work and sacrifice I gave to basketball.
When I look back at my career, successful career I would say, I am very grateful to God for everything.”
“We want to write new pages of Venezuela’s basketball history”
Venezuela will look for a way to the second round through group F. It will not be easy for them to achieve this, because they have Slovenia, Georgia and Cape Verde as rivals. Gregory Vargas said something about each of them.
“We will compete in an extremely demanding group. When you see the quality of those teams, we know it won’t be easy. Luka Doncic leads Slovenia, Tornike Shengelia is there for Georgia. Cape Verde has Walter Tavares…
We are united in the idea of finding a way to the next stage with joint forces. We know it won’t be easy, but we also know what our intentions are. Venezuela has never defeated a European team in an official game. We want to write new pages of Venezuela’s basketball history and do just that.”
The Last Dance
As we already said, Venezuela will be the oldest team at Mundobasket. They are very well aware of this and rebuilding is coming. Time will tell if the South American country is on the right path of development. Gregory Vargas said a few more words about this.
“For many of us, this will be the last World Cup at which we will perform. It can be said that we are a successful generation. America’s championship title, two South American trophies, Olympic Games appearance and two trips to Mundobasket.
A key part of basketball development in Venezuela is the investment by the Basketball Federation. Although we have a modest league, the players always prepare in such a way that they are available for the national team. And they play with great responsibility.“
Expectations from Serbian national team
At the end of the conversation, we couldn’t help but touch on the Serbian national team. Through his career, Gregory Vargas played together with many basketball players from this country.
“I played with several Serbian players, but also against them. They were always good teammates and, above all, people. What surprised me the most is the way they approach basketball. They are very talented and behave extremely professionally.
Serbia is always among the favorites at all major tournaments. I believe that they will be quite good at the FIBA World Cup 2023, because of all those quality individuals who are part of the team” – concluded the Venezuelan veteran.