Hanga: It is not easy to prepare for a European Championship qualifier like this

Captain Gasper Okorn’s time at the head of the Hungarian men’s basketball team did not start well, as the team that qualified for the last two European Championships started the series with two losses. The defeat against the Italians was on paper, but the Iceland one could hurt a lot later on, and it significantly increased the stakes for the two qualifiers in November, when we play back-and-forth with the Turks.

“We are still far from having to count, now the only important thing is to keep our destiny in our own hands” – told the MOL Team, the classic of the Hungarian national team, Adam Hanga.

The Turks are in trouble

“We don’t know what to expect from the Turks, as for now it is not possible to know what kind of team they will face against us,” said the Joventut Badalona player, and then briefly summarized the peculiar situation the Turks found themselves in, for whom football plays an interesting role in the national team’s situation.

At the moment, the captain of the Turkish national team is Ergin Ataman, who also works as a coach of the Greek club Panathinaikos. In a friendly match against Galatasaray (even if this is an indicator that can be interpreted in Greek-Turkish terms), Ataman, who as a private person is a big fan of the Galatasaray football team, showed the fans of the Turkish team the result of the Turkish Super Cup match in September (Fener-Galata 1-3), and in response the Fenerbache announced that it will not release its players to the national team.

“It’s not easy to prepare for the opponent like this, since we only know about 80 percent of the team they will play against.“But I’m not only saying that we should only focus on ourselves now, but also because we also have our own problems that arise from the current conduct of the qualifiers.”

Hangá suffered an unexpected defeat in Iceland (photo: MKOSZ)

“The truth is that I am not at all a fan of national team breaks inserted in the middle of the season. The players come from all over the world, from different basketball cultures, who have a few days, 4-5 training sessions together, to pick up the rhythm of their national team. I don’t think this is lucky, but of course I don’t say it as an excuse, because it affects every national team in the same way.”

You should also get along with a new boy

“We have been saying for a long time that one of the big problems of the national team is the play under the backboard, which lacks a player with the same physique as our opponents. This seems to be resolved now,” said Hanga about Nathan Reuvers, who was naturalized by the Hungarian federation in June, and is preparing for his first national team match.

“Nathan is a very good guy, I talked to him a lot. We play in the same league (Reuvers is the basketball player of Valencia), we have met several times this year, I am very confident that he will solve our problems at position 5.”Physically, he is absolutely suitable for the task, and as we talked about it, it came out that he is mentally ready as well. We will need it badly!” – stated Hanga.

There is little time to get used to it, but this is true for all teams (photo: MKOSZ)

“Of course, it is not ideal that he will have to present a coordinated, precise game with boys whom he saw for the first time in his life three days before his first match, but there is nothing to be done about that. The ball is the same, the backboard will be the same height, we have to go forward and do our job to the best of our ability,” said Hanga, who himself comes from a troubled period.

“I missed a few games due to an ankle injury, but I’m back on the field, although I can only play with an injection. “Anyway, there’s no problem, we play well with Badalona, ​​we’re just unlucky with hair cancer, because we should be better in the table based on our game, but the spoiled final quarters take a lot away from the performance.”

We are aiming for the first victory of the new captain, Gasper Okorn, in Turkey (photo: MKOSZ)

“But I’m leaving these worries behind now and just focusing on the national team. We didn’t start well, we also went through a change of coach, we also have a new player, so our situation cannot be said to be easy, but the fact that we were there at the last two European Championships obliges us to perform well. It would hurt a lot if the tripling didn’t work out!” – declared the Hungarian classic, with whom we had a chat on molcsapat.hu after the first two European qualifiers.

The men’s basketball team will play in Turkey on November 22 (6:30 p.m., Duna World) and then host the Turks in Szombathely on the 25th. The qualifiers end in February, then we will host Iceland and then play in Italy. The first three teams qualify for the European Championship.