By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Another thrilling FIBA World Cup is coming to an end. Two European sides will fight for the gold, as Serbia defeated Canada, and Germany stunned the USA in the semifinals, leaving the favorites to fight for the bronze.
Serbia is back in the gold-medal match after 2014, while Germany never made it this far. The only gold Germany ever took was in the 1993 Eurobasket, and interestingly, the head coach of Serbia, Svetislav Pesic, was on their bench calling shots.
One of the players that was a part of the 1993 Pesic’s team is Henrik Rodl, who led the German national team from 2017 to 2021 and had a big role in the uprising of German basketball in the previous period.
“First of all, our national team has achieved a fantastic result. In just three years, we secured two consecutive appearances in the Olympic Games, which had never happened before. Then we won the European bronze, and now we’re playing in the World Cup final,” says Rodl for Meridian Sport.
He immediately adds that for him, the final day of the World Cup will be special, not only because the national team of his Germany will be playing, but also because of Pesic, who even trained him in ALBA Berlin.
“On the other side is Serbia, the national team of my coach, a longtime coach, and I can freely say mentor – Svetislav Pešić. Three decades have passed since that European gold, many memories have faded, but what is still in my memory are his words before the final: ‘We haven’t finished the job yet.’ And he was right. That Pešic’s hunger for victory, his self-confidence… I watched the games in Manila and I saw it in him again. Truly incredible!”
Trying to explain what he expects from the upcoming World Cup final, Rodl goes back to 1993.
“Well, let’s say we could draw a parallel on both sides with the year 1993 when we were missing our biggest star Detlef Schrempf, and we played against many quality teams as was the case in Manila. It was then that the mentioned Pešic’s self-confidence came to the fore, along with unquestionable fierce work and immense knowledge, which instilled in us that we were not afraid of anyone, that we could beat anyone. He was always with us, he shifted the pressure onto himself and directed the credits to us. We went step by step. And when that crucial moment for gold came, regardless of the success we had achieved by then, he didn’t allow us to stop. He turned us into a winning machine that is not satisfied with medals, but only victories, even when you play against the biggest rivals. He did the same thing now with Serbia. Look at how many extraordinary players you are missing, and they play phenomenally. As a team. And we also play exceptionally as a team, as we have shown. What greater proof of that than the semi-final match against the USA. That’s why I think the chances in the final are 50-50.”
Germany left the USA without gold for a second time in a row at World Cups, and rumors are already circulating across the Atlantic that they will come to Paris with the strongest lineup.
“Since I studied in the USA, the picture is clearer to me that they do not attach as much importance to the World Cup as they do to the Olympic Games, while in Europe, the World Cup may be even more highly regarded than the Olympics. But, to say that Americans are indifferent to the defeat (against Germany) – they are not. They sent a young team with excellent individuals. They did not play completely as a team, they chased individual solutions unlike us. That’s the difference, but also let me say, the beauty of world basketball,” Rodl concluded.