The basketball national team reached its goal in the group part of the European Championship held in Zagreb. They qualified for the final round which will be played in Lille, France. Foto: www.alesfevzer.com
The basketball national team reached its goal in the group part of the European Championship held in Zagreb. They qualified for the final round which will be played in Lille, France. Foto: www.alesfevzer.com

With the victory at the last match against Macedonia (62:51) the Slovenian basketball players confirmed their place in the C group. "Our goal was to get into the final round by winning three matches. After four matches our score was 2:2. Our performance against Georgia and the Netherlands were correct, and the difference in points was good. Both times we lost the matches we offered decent resistance, but then we found ourselves in such a situation that everything would have been in vain were we to lose against Macedonia. There were some speculations which might have allowed us to reach the next round. The draw was rather unfavourable for us. We were the first to play, while the last matches had no importance for Croatia and Greece. It meant we had to give our best during the last match. The Macedonian players were extremely motivated; they were really a difficult opponent, although they had lost one of their most important players. They play a fast and open game, and a series of three pointers can lift their game, and cause great problems for their opponents," Jure Zdovc explained.
The Slovenian team showed above all their best defence in the match against Macedonia - it was better only in the third quarter of the match against Greece. In spite of minor mistakes the head coach, who keeps stressing the importance of the defence, could be satisfied with the performance. "Again our concentration dropped a little, but I wanted everything to be perfect. And it showed; I was aware of the danger Macedonia presented with their three pointers. We kept telling our players what were the opponents playing, kept reminding them to keep their arms up, to stay focused… And we mostly succeeded."