The coach of Belgium basketball national team is appeared to be one funny man. Upon his arrival in Tbilisi, he conducted that D.J. Mbenga will arrive later and is expected to take part in tomorrow’s game. After the yesterdays practice, journalists asked Eddy Casteels if Mbenga was going to play against Georgia. Head coach looked at his watch and then laughed out loud stating that Mbenga will come just before the game starts. Apparently former LA Lakers center will not be on the floor tomorrow; however, still, Belgium is a strong side.
Belgians are taking upcoming game very seriously and are planning to come off victorious from the floor. During their practice in Tbilisi Sport Palace, they have asked everyone to leave the building. Their practice lasted for two hours. After they have finished practicing Eddy Casteels made the following commentary:
“Georgian basketball national team progressed into Division A and has proved that they deserve to play on this level. We are expecting a tough match, but we do have some hopes. We defeated Georgians by 10 points in Belgium, so we will try to repeat our success here also. ”
After Belgians have finished their practice, Georgians came out on the parquet. George Tsintsadze made a brief comment: “We are ready to fight. The victory over Belgium is crucial for us. Hopefully, tomorrow the stands will be full.”
Youngster Tornike Shengelia has noted that Georgians have studied the Belgian side and are ready to win: “We travelled a lot. Despite this, we managed to rehabilitate. It does not matter what team we are playing against. We should win in any case. We made a lot of mistakes in Belgium. Now we should provoke them to make mistakes.”
Georgian national team American player Taurean Green talked about the last match between the two sides: “Upon this match we have made everything to be in a good position to qualify for the European Championships. From now on everything depends on us. We should finish just like we have started. Out of the remaining three matches, this will be the most difficult one.”
Zaza Pachulia still suffers knee pain however he will play today. Yesterday team captain practiced full time. He stated the following: “Against Poland I played with a pain in my knee. I would have not even gone out on the floor without doctors’ permission. It is true that we lost that game, however it is good that we did not lose by 18 points or more. By maintaining the advantage over Poland we have secured an independent future. Everything is in our hands now. Situation is under our control. In case we win all three matches – we are through to the European Championships. We are awaiting a difficult match-up against Belgium however we are totally mobilized and if we will show our game, opponents will have no chance of winning.”
Just to remind you, that one the most important matches of 2011 European Championship Qualifying Round Group C will start today at 19:00 Tbilisi time in Tbilisi Sport Palace. The match will be assisted by the following referees: Omer Esteron (ISR), Spiridon Gontas (GRE), and Victor Bozhenar (UKR). Match commissar will be Plamen Ganchev (HUN)
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