Basketball national team before the match with Russia: They are favorites, but we will not give up

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The BiH basketball team expects the start of the qualifiers for the 2019 World Cup.

Our team's first opponent is Russia, which will visit Skenderija on November 24th. A press conference was held on this occasion, attended by coach Duško Vujošević and national team players Džanan Musa and Elmedin Kikanović.

- Every serious country has serious sports. Sports in Europe, apart from football, are not profitable. Just like education and culture are not profitable, but they are important for a country's presentation. Regarding the duel with the Russians, we coaches are in a very strange situation. In this constellation of forces, BiH has chances against Russia. We have come to a situation where we cannot do our job. Because of the relationship between FIBA, the NBA, and others. We have come to a situation where we play important matches with literally four days of training. We are playing with a completely new team compared to the one from this summer. Russia is missing three players, that's our chance.

We will fight. The creation of false optimism bothers me. I have always been a skeptic and a worker. In the time we have, skepticism is growing, but I see a great opportunity here for these young guys, and also for Sarajevo to see a spectacle. The players responded with great enthusiasm, they want to play for the national team. In these two or three training sessions we had, they showed maximum commitment. I would ask journalists to leave Musa alone. He should be allowed to play. Everyone should give their maximum.

The Russians are favorites, we will fight, and it is possible that we will cause an upset. We are more focused on building our game system, we have four days to prepare it. Russia often plays better without Shved, so they sometimes, especially at the European Championship, performed better without him on the court. The Russians are absolute favorites, even though they are missing three players; they have made an agreement to assemble a team that they believe will be sufficient to achieve a positive result. In our team, no one is here just to grace us with their presence; everyone has put themselves at the team's service - said the coach of our national team, Duško Vujošević.

After Vujošević, Elmedin Kikanović and Džanan Musa addressed the media.

- The situation is specific for both coaches and players. In previous seasons, we spent 40 days together before official appearances. The situation is as it is, for us and for others. We all arrived motivated and showed our maximum through these training sessions. It is up to us to adopt everything the professional staff asks of us through training. We are playing against a serious national team, which will be strengthened by players playing for CSKA. A difficult task awaits us, and I believe that with the help of the fans and a good atmosphere in the team, we can achieve a positive result - said Kikanović.

Our best player, Džanan Musa, emphasized that Russia is a big favorite, but that sport is unpredictable.

- The coach and captain have already said most things; many players took a break, but we came motivated for this match. Russia is a big favorite, but sport is unpredictable; we will give our maximum, the system is such that preparations last four days, but FIBA has decided so - said Musa.

The match against Russia will be played on Friday in the Mirza Delibašić hall at 18:45.