By Rigas Dardalis/ dardalis@eurohoops.net
Spain lost the chance for a three-peat in Eurobasket 2013, not having Pau Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro is more than an excuse, however the main target of criticism was coach Juan Antonio Orenga.
Eurohoops had the chance to talk with him after the 3rd place game of Eurobasket 2013, he admitted that the goal of his team was top, however the bronze medal is not such a bad consolation prize: “We are happy because of the medal. One of our goals was to be in the semifinals and to fight for the medals. We arrived there and just one play decided if we were fighting for the gold or not. It was pretty hard for us to play in the 3rd place game. We lost to France, we were thinking that we will be in the final again, my team is full or winners and to recuperate everybody and it was difficult. to change their mind in order to play against Croatia, a team that we have beaten by 28 points in the first game of the tournament, a team which has changed during the tournament. It was difficult, but all the players moved ahead and we got a great victory. It’s very important for us”.
As for himself and his future, Orenga is here to stay: “I feel happy, I feel that the job we have done has been a good job. I feel the confidence of my president and my sports manager and the only thing that I can do is keep on working and prepare the team for next year. We are happy because this Eurobasket close a circle this summer. In the four European women tournaments we got four golds and in the four men tournaments we got one gold and three bronzes”.
And as Jose Luis Saez, the president of the Spanish federation, said in “El Pais” newspaper on Monday and officially announced on Tuesday, Orenga will stay on Spain’s bench.