The historic member of the AmeriCup semi-finalist Argentine National Team spoke with TyC Sports about the advantages and disadvantages of his immense experience, felt the challenges that continue in the tournament and is happy for the new coach’s cycle.
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At 40 years old, Carlos Delfino is one of the bulwarks of Pablo Prigioni’s new Argentine basketball team that made it to the AmeriCup semifinals, where nothing less than the United States awaits. This Friday, speaking to Sportia, from TyC Sports, he referred to this special moment in his career.
Delfino, pros and cons of being part of the National Team at 40 years old
“Playing for 40 years has a little bit of an advantage because your head changes and you look at other things, and in physical disabilitybecause recovery is not the same. The desire is that of a little boy of 15, 16, 17 years old. I enjoyed it more I don’t depend on winning or not, or scoring a lot of points or not. You learn to appreciate a lot of things that you don’t when you’re young, as part of this process, of a Copa América at this age, competing against very young ones and doing everything for a group that has already won important things and wants to continue growing. That’s where the beauty comes from,” he remarked.
“There other times I want to play 40 minutes and if you take me off the field to breathe or drink water, I will be angry, I think more about the individual and not about the collective, he doesn’t appreciate the simple fact of being able to do it. As a result of my missed stop from 2012 or 2013 to 2016, now I appreciate every minute that I can compete and everything makes sense. Not everyone gets to play at this age and to a certain degree, I feel privileged to be able to continue doing what I love even though it’s hard for me to recover, I feel some discomfort around and the kids are older, or I have to leave the house”, he summed up remembering the injury that kept him away from activity for four years.
The Argentine National Team in the AmeriCup according to Delfino: what happened and the semifinal in the United States
“When the ball goes in and we win, problems are created, it doesn’t mean that we have, we play well, calm down, but we worked and won with this calm. We had a difficult process, in Bahia, in Mar del Plata, and then we came here and now the important part of the competition has started, and it’s getting harder. The team has responded and continues to improve. That increases the desire and hopefully we will be crowned .The United States is tough, with players with NBA and FIBA experience, lesser known but important at this level, we need to assert our talent and collective work, and continue to be good when playing to hit the two shots we need, one at a time,” he said.
Regarding the future of the tournament, Lancha reflects: “Many are motivated to play for us, in Brazil we are the ones who come to the tournament more complete and others enter with a different head, they even told me that at one point we can relax, against the Dominican, and I don’t think there are games for that when you play at this level, with Caribbean teams that run a lot, come and go, and when they are effective it becomes difficult. You have to have a lot of wisdom and balance to try to make the game suit usa little more European, more thoughtful, and when we do that, we have more chances to reach the end”.
Carlos Delfino and Pablo Prigioni’s cycle as coach of the Argentine National Team
“With Pablo, we all know who followed his career as a player that he is a great person who continued to train and he deserves this place. This is good for national basketball to have someone who was a player today as a coach. He’s earned respect for a reason, he needs to continue gaining experience, obviously, because he’s still young, but He is doing very well with the Argentine National Team“, he finished.
Photo: @cabboficial
Source: Tycsports
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
