By special correspondence/ info@eurohoops.net
It was freezing… In February, the snow was the main event in the north of Europe, but there are moments when the soul falters in the most heated rooms. Back several decades, in the same locker room, in Laugardalsholl Sport Centre of Reykjavik, Iceland, sat the triumphant of the battle of the (previous) century, Bobby Fischer. After 21 games and about 45 days, the world chess community was stunned by the American grandmaster’s victory over Boris Spassky in the final of the World Chess Championship 1972.
This time, on February 21, 2019, in the same locker room, a 26-year-old couldn’t believe that his dream (once again) would go into the freezer…
“And now coach? What?” he asked…
“Nothing. We’re done. Eliminated”…
Portuguese basketball once more remained obscure… The years went by, and the country was already eight away from its last participation in EuroBasket in 2011. The then 26-year-old Miguel Queiroz struggled with another unsuccessful bid to reach the final stage of EuroBasket—the absolute zero.
“That was a big blow to me. You know, for so many years playing in so many pre-, pre-, and pre-qualifiers, many times, I didn’t even know why we were playing and what stage we were in. I remember that match in Iceland. Even today. I can’t explain it today, but that defeat and the moment when the coach told me that everything was over hurt me a lot.”
Miguel Queiroz is now 34. He is the captain! But he no longer has to remember that night in Laugardalsholl Sport Centre with bitterness. Since 2011, Portugal has needed 14 years to return to EuroBasket. However, he managed and this entire journey of failures can now be put to rest. In the summer of 2025, Portugal will march along with the other 23 national teams in the final phase of the EuroBasket. Even the country’s basketball legend, Carlos Lisboa, fell shy of having this honor. He had retired way before the last two appearances of his country in the major tournament, in 2007 and 2011.
“I have been on the national team for 13 years, and from the very beginning, I fought hard, with everything I had in me, to achieve a berth in Eurobasket,” recalled the Portugal captain, in a rewind consisting of difficult emotions. “We went through a lot all these years… To get to last February to experience something crazy… It was really crazy, believe me. We had qualified for Eurobasket… When I realized it, one thought went through my mind for my country: We are back on the map. Finally.”
The last international window featured all four countries of Portugal’s group in Riga, Latvia, for the top two of the last four games, Ukraine versus Slovenia and Israel versus Portugal. The Slovenians confirmed projections with a win over Ukraine, and although Portugal had two more games, they had secured a spot in the EuroBasket. The games against Israel in Riga and Ukraine in Matosinhos did not matter…
SCENES IN THE PORTUGAL LOCKER ROOM
#EuroBasket x #MakeYourMark pic.twitter.com/GqH2tMIvnf
— FIBA EuroBasket (@EuroBasket) February 25, 2024
“I can’t describe my joy, and I’m telling you the absolute truth. When Ukraine lost, we knew we had qualified, and then my mind started racing over the previous 13 years… I remembered the heavy defeats, the 40-point deficit suffered in some qualifiers against the Czechia. I remember the games when fewer players suited up because we were eliminated, and some guys weren’t traveling with us, resulting in us being less… We didn’t even have 12 players. Those were tough times.”
It was time for Miguel to say: “I Did it”. And he did… His coach, professor Mario Gomes as well. He took on the task of reigniting the flame for the lost dreams of the 2011 generation. The coincidence for Portuguese basketball is stunning… Both the Men’s and Women’s National Teams secured EuroBasket berths… In the same year. The summer of 2025 will be dedicated, for the first time, to the orange ball and not to the one they kick with their feet. The success of the Men and the Women has something uniting the coaches, Mario Gomes and Ricardo Vasconcelos, preparing for their first EuroBasket…
“We both come from a club called Alges, a club that in the past had a very good reputation for the excellent work done at the youth level. Now, some things have changed, but our roots, both of us, do not change,” professor Mario Gomes became emotional: “We cannot ignore the reality: We are a very football country. Everyone in Portugal is involved in football. We are a small country in basketball. During the Windows, however, we were able to really feel the acquired connection of people with the national team. Of course, the fact that we qualified was important, but the people of Portugal recognized that this team did a really good job. They acknowledged in their own way, with their reactions, how these players, every night, in every game, fought with everything they had in them to achieve the best. Every time. We are a team with excellent chemistry between the players, who are all fantastic kids. The people felt this deeply. Then, the connection became even stronger. I will not hide from you that after qualifying, friends who I had not spoken to for years reached out. They sent me very nice messages. People who are usually on their couches were at the gym. They didn’t care. They lacked motivation. But everything was different this time. The Windows benefited us, and a new approach to basketball emerged.”
Head coach Mario Gomes, for many years the alter ego of legendary Mario Palma, perhaps the greatest Portuguese coach in history, and captain Miguel Queiroz agreed on one word: Hope! A rebirth through the process of the Windows for countries with a smaller basketball reach, such as Portugal! Hope was there, and Miguel would not need to count how many pre he would put before the word qualifiers for his country. It became clear: Like hope… A word that in the language of sports is as important as oxygen:
“It’s true… We felt hope. The hope was there. Qualifying didn’t seem an unattainable dream. It was in front of us and within our reach. In a realistic way, not far-fetched,” said Mario Gomes, echoed by Miguel Queiroz: “For us, hope is very important. We didn’t have to spend weeks and weeks preparing. We gathered during the season, our players off games with their clubs, were ready, and we played two games in each Window. Maybe for countries that can’t bring their players from the NBA, the windows create a problem, but for us, the national team is fun. We absolute reset in our minds as we all fit into a different atmosphere.”
Coach Gomes concluded, “We felt from the beginning that we could really do something. People didn’t expect it. Not at all. 95% of Portugal is football fans. Especially those who don’t follow basketball didn’t even know we were playing. But when we beat Slovenia, everything changed. And now, at EuroBasket, the hope will be there again. We are five months away, but we will go there to fight.”
“Points, not goals”
The journey to the final stage of the EuroBasket will be difficult, as will some questions from fans to captain Queiroz… “Everyone knows Portugal for football, and I won’t hide that it is often difficult to accept. People would tell me… ‘Congratulations for 25 goals today’ and I would answer, ‘Thank you very much but I did not score 25 goals, I scored 25 points’. They confused goals with points. But now, it seems something is changing. Fans are following. Teams are investing in their home venues, and the league games are a little more like a show. Fans are starting to talk more about basketball and it was stunning that in the last games we played in front of four thousand people. It was beautiful. After the game with Ukraine, some people asked me if we were going to the final stage to visit another country or to win. And of course, I replied we would play whoever the draw decides. We don’t care about anything else. We want to win a game. When you start and succeed, the next step is even more difficult.”
The national team is moments, pride, love for the homeland, family, history… The national team is: “Family. It means a lot to me to play for your country. It’s a completely different feeling. In clubs, it’s different. Occasionally, players focus on individual stats to secure a better contract in the future. The goal is not always common. But in the national team, whoever you are, whatever your name is, the goal is the same: ‘Success with the national team. Let’s go to EuroBasket. All together. And we went.”
For coach Gomes, the big question is the future: “Basketball in Portugal is in a good moment, but the key is to use these moments in Men and Women to implement a long-term plan for basketball in the future. We lack the system and the organization. We are improving some stuff, but we need to build our system and have durability. We are not there yet.”
In any case, Portugal is already enjoying a huge success… And emotion and happiness are high. Miguel Queiroz shares some aspects with us…
“We knew before the game with Israel that we advanced, and it was difficult to focus… We lost, but afterwards, in the locker room, what we experienced was madness… But I was a little unlucky. I was assigned to postgame doping control, and when they informed me, I told them: ‘Today? Not today.’ Of course I had nothing to hide, but it was the moment when I wanted to be with my teammates, to celebrate, to shout and sing. We were out of EuroBasket for 14 years and now you are asking me to go to doping control?”
Queiroz laughed describing this scene, but his tone and voice became more emotional after the next question:
“When Slovenia beat Ukraine, and our game with Israel did not matter anymore, I called my father. And I told him: ‘Father, I did it.’ This man knew how much I wanted it, how much I fought for it. I also called my partner… Those phone calls were very important to me. It was like an apology for everything they went through in the previous years, standing by my side and enduring my bitterness. It was like a thank you for being there for me all these years. And I wanted to shout to them: ‘We did it…’”.
Miguel wished to dedicate the triumph to two more people: “I thought about two people after this question… They no longer play in the national team… But were there with us in the difficult days. They are Joao Guerreiro of Porto and Jose Barbosa of Benfica… These two guys were with me in the difficult moments and they are no longer with the national team. I know how hard it was for them to be absent. And I would like to share it with them.”
Professor Gomez is happy for this group of players making the dream come true and will play in a major tournament, one he had the opportunity to experience as Jordan’s coach, again alongside Mario Palma, with whom he was also worked together at Benfica, when the Eagles of Lisbon were playing in the Euroleague in the 1990s…
“It has been very difficult in recent years to unite all the coaches and create a style of play that suits us. If we could do that, we would be better. Every coach in Portugal plays his own basketball. We don’t have a common style. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is: The style doesn’t change depending on the opponent. The biggest problem is that we don’t have our philosophy. And this message must be passed on to all the coaches of the national teams, but also of the clubs…” The Portuguese coach added, “After 2011, some players stayed with the team, and we started to gather some new guys. For different reasons, in previous years, it was complicated to make a team out of the national team! A unit! I have no complaints from the players. But the atmosphere wasn’t the same. We wanted the guys to like being together, playing for the national team, and all that. Before, it wasn’t easy… In previous years, the players were saying, ‘We’ll try. ’ Trying should not be the purpose. It’s an obligation. We have to have aim for specific goals! We have to want to play in EuroBasket. And that’s what makes the difference”.
The Portugal locker room is not just beautiful now… It is also loud… “We have assigned one of our teammates to be the DJ of the national team, and we are having a really good time. The team feeling is amazing,” said Queiroz, highlighting the biggest return from the progress: “Basketball is changing in our country… I feel like we are in constant growth… My team, Porto, advanced to the second round of the FIBA Europe Cup in the last three years… The national team defeated Slovenia for the first time, and all of this shows that we are climbing… We are on the map now, and people in the country are starting to understand it. We even have an NBA player… There are clearly more kids playing. This is the biggest gain.” On the NBA, the conversation naturally went to Neemias Queta… “He has shown many times that he really likes playing with the national team. I hope he will be with us in the summer. I know he wants to come.”
“After the game with Ukraine, he texted me… He congratulated me on qualifying. It was very nice. And I replied: ‘Start packing because you’ll be with us’. I hope he will be with us.”