Gianmarco Pozzecco: 'Serbia is a great team but with this group of guys I'm ready for everything' / News - Basketnews.com

In the post game conference Gianmarco Pozzecco, the head coach of the Italian national team, said that he doesn't fear Serbia and that his group of players will do its best to prove everyone wrong.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

Italy finished their experience in group C with a comfortable win over Great Britain with a final score of 90-56. Despite the big win, though, Italy finished the group in fourth place, which means that they'll face Serbia in the round of 16, probably the worst pairing possible.

After the game, coach Gianmarco Pozzecco expressed his satisfaction with the win and once again praised the attitude of his players, even in a game that was easy on paper. But now the most difficult part arrives with the game on Sunday against Serbia in Berlin.

"I have a lot of respect for Serbia, I grew up watching Yugoslavian basketball", Pozzecco said. "But I have a lot of trust in my players, they have a big heart and I'll go with them everywhere. We know that it's gonna be difficult, Serbia is a superb team but with this group of guys I'm ready for everything".

"Gallinari was here today and for a moment we re-lived his bad injury and most importantly the pain of not having him here living these emotions with his teammates", Pozzecco explained.

"Since I came here, to be honest, I didn't expect the team to play at this level. We played 8 games and we only lost two: one was really close against Greece, and in the other one against Ukraine we had a moment of bad condition after a great first half".

"In general, probably we could have done something more in this group", Pozzecco added. "But I'm proud of my players and of the type of commitment that they've shown so far. Now we just need to think about Serbia and the game that we're gonna play on Sunday, that's the only thing that matters now".

Italy and Serbia will meet on Sunday at 18:00 CET.

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