World Cup, Gianmarco Pozzecco’s tears of joy.

World Cup, Gianmarco Pozzecco’s tears of joy

"We dedicate this game to Matteo Spagnolo for the loss of his grandfather, è a wonderful boy". First joy then tears of emotion at the microphones of Rai and Sky for Italbasket coach Gianmarco Pozzecco now in the quarterfinals at the World Cup in the Philippines with the Azzurri national team thanks to the victory over Puerto Rico.

"Nobody believed it,” Pozzecco admits, “not even my people thought we would make it this far. I justify everyone who didn’t believe it because they don’t know these guys, they were wonderful. Only Gigi’s father (Datome, ed.) believed it. We are among the top eight in the world, we crashed the party”.

“We raised the bar and took a chance. I think it is one of the most beautiful pages of our basketball. At the World Cup we have never gone like this, we can compete with anyone. A dedication? I have a six-month-old daughter whom I haven’t seen for two months – the Azzurri coach concludes crying while talking to Sky – my wife, my family’’.

Then the embrace in front of the Rai microphones with the president of the federbasket Gianni Petrucci: "It had been too many years – says an emotional Petrucci – that we did not get this far, we have to dream, the team is there’è, the players and staff are extraordinary".