Both the Olympic Games and the World Cup are four years old. Only on such occasions can we play against the United States team with a balanced lineup. This opportunity is very precious and desirable for our young team.
Xinhua News Agency, Tenerife Island, Spain, September 22 (Xie Yuzhi, Su Bin) “We have fully prepared for the difficulties we can think of, but the difficulties are more than we have prepared.” Xu Limin, the coach of China’s women’s basketball, sighed after winning the first battle of the 2018 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup group match in the country.
The Chinese team won the first game with a 64:61 victory and won the “good start”. However, Xu Limin was not satisfied with the performance of the team. He thought that the performance of the team today was “relatively low level” and pointed out several major problems: “We have always stressed that the backboard is missing, I have also been focusing on the problems I have prepared, but the rebound in Latvia is too good, which has caused a great impact on us and changed our psychology. The second is the breakthrough, on the 7th and 12th of the other party, we studied them and tried not to let them score, but they still got 14 points for one of them and 16 points for the other; Then they got free throws, the 58% hit rate is too bad, never.”
In Xu Limin’s view, these problems are more from the team itself, which is the price this team pays for its youth and lack of experience. But on the other hand, he also pointed out that despite many difficulties, the team still withstood the heavy pressure and won the game, which was a harvest in itself. “In the first encounter, such a young team played such a key game, and the score was also ups and downs. They could bite to the end and exercise too much for this team.” Xu Limin said, “the biggest gain is not only the victory of a game, but also the toughness that the players try to get rid of difficulties and refuse to give up after encountering difficulties.”
When it comes to the impact of this victory on the team, Xu Limin is more inclined to look at the problem dialectically: “Winning will bring us a boost in confidence, and it is very good for the emotional mobilization of subsequent matches, however, if our mentality is still like today, even if we bear the burden of winning, then victory may play a bad role for us.”
The Chinese team will welcome the US team, the strongest opponent of the group, one day later, and the latter is also recognized as the favorite to win the championship. Xu Limin thinks that this is an excellent exercise opportunity for the team: “Both the Olympic Games and the World Cup are four years old. Only on such occasions can we play against the United States team with a neat lineup, this kind of opportunity is very precious and desirable for our young team.” He said that the team will calm down and give it a shot, and prepare for the post-match and cross-elimination matches in Senegal.