Ivan Almeida, a member of the Cape Verde national team, spoke with Basketball Sphere about the FIBA World Cup 2023.
Qualifying for the Mundobasket is an impressive result for Cape Verde. Also, the fact they are led by Walter Tavares despite difficult opponents cannot be dismissed.
In an interview for Basketball Sphere, we talk with Ivan Almeida about everything that lies ahead for his national team.
A dream come true
Cape Verde is playing in the World Cup for the first time, and Almeida emphasized at the beginning how important it is to him and the team that they are in this competition.
“This is a dream come true, we all wanted this. We fought to bring Cape Verde to the big stage, to be among the best countries that play basketball. This path for most of our players started in 2017, but for me everything started from the moment I was first invited to play for the national team.”
Support is the most important thing
“We are constantly getting messages, we are currently practice in our capital and people come to often to see us. We mostly know them all… They are the people we grew up with. The atmosphere is also phenomenal within the team, by far the best in the national team since I’ve been here, we’re always laughing and joking.”
Walter Tavares
In the conversation, we also referred to the best player in this country, Walter Tavares, whose will lead Cape Verde at the FIBA World Cup 2023.
“We are not very worried about his condition. Tavares played a long season in the EuroLeague and the Endesa League, that’s a lot of games… He is recovering and will definitely be with us.”
A demanding group, but advancing to the next stage is realistic
Cape Verde will play in group F on their debut at the World Cup with the national teams of Slovenia, Venezuela and Georgia. Benfica’s player said that the group is very demanding.
“We feel good about the group, although they are excellent teams. We are the outsiders and we have to respect our opponents. We also have to respect their history and what they have done, but we also have to respect ourselves. The goal is to have a good mentality and think we can compete with them.“
Olympic Games are goal number one
Almeida also spoke about the priorities of the national team for this Mundobasket, which would be spot at the Olympics.
“We are looking for direct qualification for the Olympic Games, but for us the sky is the limit. We are close to that breakthrough point in a team and individual sense. Anything can happen at this World Cup, especially in our group. The boys are ready to take that step further. Cape Verde will try to qualify for the Olympic Games and to go as far as possible in the tournament itself.”
Clash with Luka Doncic
In the last game in group F, Cape Verde will play against Slovenia. That means Almeida will compete against Luka Doncic, one of the best players in the world.
“I’m very excited about it, especially since I’m guarding him.” – Almeida said with a smile, then continued:
“I think we can compete with them and definitely win. Slovenia has a great team, they have been good on the international scene for several years. They also have a very young roster and it will be a big test for us, including the other games. We are very much looking forward to all of that and I think it will be a great game.” Ivan Almeida concluded.
Cape Verde will have its first test against Georgia on August 26. Two days later Venezuela awaits them, and the last match is scheduled on August 30. The opponent will be the already mentioned Slovenia.