Chus Mateo: “It is the first experience to grow since defeat”

Chus Mateo, coach of the Spanish team, remarked that, despite losing in extra time to Georgia (91-89) in Tbilisi in the last match of the first qualifying phase for the World Cup, it will be an experience to “grow from the defeat.”

Spain, which came to dominate the match by 22 points in the third quarter, had a very bad final quarter. Despite forcing extra time, Mateo breaks his unbeaten record since he came to the ‘La Familia’ bench and finishes this first phase with a record of five wins and one loss.

“We knew it was going to be very difficult. It was a surprise to start so well. We took advantage. Almost until the third quarter it seemed like we were going to be able to close it out. But they stayed alive and played very, very hard at the end. We lost the ball too much in the final stretch, especially in the last 15 minutes. That allowed them to score easily, sometimes even from the offensive rebound,” analyzed Chus Mateo in the press conference after the crash.

The coach insisted that the team did not have the same “regularity” to play inside and out, but said that the defeat is part of the experience that this group of players must acquire: “This is going to be a very long road to work together and this is the first experience we have to learn and grow since the defeat.”

Likewise, he congratulated Shengelia for her match and drew positive feelings from this first phase. “I think the conclusions in general are that we always have to keep adding. A group cooks together and we must overcome certain adversities. That’s why I think it will help us grow. In general we have been doing a great job. It is a defeat that hurts and it was a game that we could have won…But the important thing is to reach the objective in the next window. It is a victory that has escaped us but we will continue forward,” he stated.

‘La Familia’ dominated the duel for almost 35 minutes, so Mateo stated that they will analyze mistakes so as not to repeat them in future matches. “We will analyze what we have done wrong. We must also draw good conclusions from those positive minutes. The game was well oriented but we were not solid for the minutes we had to be. We will detect it. It is good for us to know how to get out of adverse situations. We have lost many balls in the last minutes. It is difficult for everyone to play at the same pace but detecting it is part of our growth process. The losses and rebounds have hurt us. Beyond that, it is part of the game. Nothing to reproach,” he concluded.

Despite the defeat, Spain will play in the second qualifying phase for the World Cup, which will be against the qualified teams from Group B, made up of Greece, Montenegro, Portugal and Romania.