The head coach of Germany, Henrik Rodl, spoke with FIBA and referred to the competitions’ new format and the team’s opponents in the second round of the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers.
Here is what the 49-year-old coach said:
On FIBA and the new format: “The World Cup has been upgraded a lot by the new FIBA regulations, with the EuroBasket only being played every four years now.
In order to qualify for the Olympics, you have to qualify for the World Cup first and then reach a certain place, to reach the qualification or qualify directly. Thus, the World Cup is now more important than ever.”
On the squad’s opponents in the second round of the WC Qualifiers: “Greece is clearly the strongest. Estonia and Israel are both great teams, on the same level as us; and I feel we should be able to beat them on our home court. Estonia is a team that does not have big stars yet, but a team that knows how to play and is especially dangerous from outside.
So we have to be very careful. Away games are always especially difficult. And in the second round windows, we always have our home game as the second game. We need to see how this feels. This first game of the second round in Tallinn I think is going to be a challenge.”
