The coach of the Spanish women’s basketball team, Lucas Mondelo, stated that the team’s mentality in the face of Tokyo Olympics is “make history if we can” and that, after the EuroBasket, “the players have been thinking that this is the past.”
Before the start of the penultimate training session of the national team in the WiZink Center (Madrid), Lucas Mondelo addressed the media. “In terms of attitude, the team has always been magnificent, what happens is that the blows hurt. I expected them to come a bit slowed down or with doubts and it has been the opposite, they have been thinking that this is past and that we are going to make history Yes we can. That is the mentality of the team, “he said.
In spite of everything, for Mondelo the main objective in the Olympic Games of Tokyo 2020 is “to compete” and “to be happy”.
“The team has worked fantastically and everything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong. I do not want to justify myself, we have always been at the top and we have competed in all the games,” he added in relation to the Eurobasket, where Spain was out of the medals and he couldn’t get his ticket for the world next year. The only way that remains to obtain a place for the World Cup is by getting the Olympic gold, for the United states part as a favorite.
We have to be able to continue competing and be happy, which is surely the piece that we need to give a scare
The coach spoke of the importance of the unity of the group for the Games: “The important thing is that the team is well, very united. We will need a point of luck that we have lacked but that we have had on other occasions, everything is there We have to be able to continue competing and be happy, which is surely the little bit that we need to give a scare. “
The national team faced France in two friendlies to prepare for the Games with a balance of one victory and one defeat: “The friendlies against France have served to unite the group. Between injuries and casualties due to COVID-19 the team has been missing that cohesion. It has served to show that we really could have won a medal in the European Championship because we played very well. It seems that there is a clear evolution on our part. “
“For us the march is going, we like the public. It will be a bit sad, it is a great shame for the public not to see that show and especially for the players who have worked so long to enjoy that moment, but well you have to adapt or die, “he commented on the recent confirmation that there will be no public in the pavilions.
Regarding the renewal of the team, Mondelo said that the team is “undergoing reconstruction”: “There are many players who have rope for a while. People are entering with great force who have to finish settling but it will be very good for them to play Eurobasket and Olympic Games to make that leap in quality and have a selection for a while. In addition, there are people with a lot of quality who have not yet entered but who will enter “.
Tomorrow will take place the last training session of the team, which will head to the Japanese capital on Saturday the 17th. In today’s training the internationals made plays combined with space in the attacks to practice defense and ended with a match.