MADRID, 24 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The captain of the Spanish basketball team, Rudy Fernández, acknowledged this Thursday that the team has to be “the one that competes best” in the World Cup in Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia, which starts this Friday, to successfully defend its current status as World and European champion.
“We have to be the team that competes the best, that knows what circumstances it is in at all times and that is what will make us go up like we did last summer, we did not believe that we could achieve what we achieved. But we worked and left everything on the court at all times, that’s what gave us the reward of being European champions”, declared the forward at the press conference prior to the start of the World Cup.
The player from the Balearic Islands feels “old” at 38, but wants to continue playing, because he enjoys basketball, something in which Víctor Claver and Sergio Llull, the other veterans of the team, “agree” with him. “I remember last summer, we had a different generation, but the last Eurobasket was one of the best experiences of my career,” he stressed.
The Real Madrid man believes that everything they have achieved over the years has been “thanks to the group” and this summer will be no exception. “When we are a group and each of us trusts the one next to us, everything works much better and everything goes along the same lines,” he repeated.
He did not give importance to the rankings that place Spain as the fourth favorite for the tournament. “We do not look at that type of ranking, we see the day to day and the work that we are doing with the group,” she pointed out.
In a summer in which “a lot of players” are missing, like Ricky Rubio or Lorenzo Brown, the importance of men with more experience increases, according to the forward. “Veteran players have the group to be together in difficult moments, taking advantage of the experience we have”, he valued.
“We have to follow the same dynamics that we have followed during all these years, go little by little, respect each team that we face and go getting feelings for the important games as well,” he explained.
Finally, Rudy analyzed Brazil, a rival in the group stage, and its player Marcelinho Huertas. “It is a reflection, because at his age (40) he is at a very high level, both in the Endesa League and internationally and now here at the World Cup with his team he is a player who I am convinced will put us in trouble”, settled.