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Fadi El-Khatib: Lebanon has no chance against Greece

stuart2

Administrator
Surprised that Lebanese captain would say such a thing, but perhaps it's to motivate the players?

El Khatib: ‘Against Greece we really don’t have slightest possibility of winning’
ATHENS – Fadi El Khatib will this week attempt to lead Lebanon into the Beijing Games. And thankfully, there is no political uncertainty back home, thus allowing the players to focus on the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

El Khatib gave this interview 24 hours before the start of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

Fadi, is life in Lebanon getting back to normal?
El Khatib: “Now we have a president, a couple of days ago a government was formed and there are no problems anymore. For two or three months, life has been back to normal; people are going to their jobs without feeling any fear, they are having fun or going to the beach with nothing to worry about. The fact that we now have a government has been the actual solution. Everybody in Lebanon sees now the future with an optimistic view.”

Did the unsettled situation before cause trouble for the team’s preparations?
El Khatib: In previous years, every time we traveled to participate in any international competition, we knew that we had left big problems behind us at home. In 2006, during Japan’s FIBA World Championship, there was a war taking place in our country. It has always been so; we were traveling and things back home weren’t good. But, that’s not the case anymore. Now, we are calm, because we know that our families and friends are secure. It’s the first time we don’t feel any kind of pressure or insecurity.

What is the situation with your team right now?
El Khatib: In Canada, where we played some friendly games, we unfortunately lost one of our most important players, Joseph Vogel. His absence costs us a lot as he is 2.10m. After him, the tallest player is only 2.05. As a result, we will be facing a significant draw back under the basket, but we are still willing to give our best.

What do you think about your opening game against Greece?
El Khatib: We know that against the Greek National Team we really don’t have the slightest possibility of winning. Greece is an excellent team and furthermore will be competing and enjoying the support of the home crowd. They are determined to qualify for the Olympic Games and they wouldn’t allow themselves lose at the beginning. Nevertheless, we will try as hard as it gets and see what happens.

Do you believe that you can beat Brazil?
El Khatib: If we had Vogel with us, I would say that we would have a 50% to beat Brazil. Without him, though, things have become a lot harder. However, we tend to play well against good teams and I hope that the same will happen against Brazi.
 
well having the home crowd plus defeating the team USA would make the knees of Fadi shake against the Greeks but still we can never be so sure, he might have some surprise up in his sleeve
 
Maybe I am superstitious but I really do not like this kind of statements,

I fear that Greece will end up like Tream USA. :(
 
Why on earth would he say it like that. In these kinds of times you cannot be so blunt with your words.
 
I somehow also think..that it is some kind of giving the other teams extra-confidence and then try to take advantage of that...but the thing is that after vogel's injury..all the media shifted to these kinds of talks..that now it is only a phase to prepare the team for the next asian championship and thus the World Championship again...it's bad..but they just don't wan to make the people's hope high
 
amazing performance by Greece.the form continues after the recent friendly games..
 
crazy green said:
amazing performance by Greece.the form continues after the recent friendly games..

Yes but It was a team without center!
 
Come on now, we can't use this as an actual sample of the team's performance. I actually felt embarrassed for the guys.
 
noone sayed anything about the game.just about the form..i remind to some youngers.. that Greece had bad appearences in the past against weaker opponents...
 
Ilya said:
Come on now, we can't use this as an actual sample of the team's performance. I actually felt embarrassed for the guys.

me too it was a pitty.

But, I think they wanted to give a clear message!

crazy green said:
noone sayed anything about the game.just about the form..i remind to some youngers.. that Greece had bad appearences in the past against weaker opponents...

Yes I remember that. As soon as there was some margin the Greeks started to be less focused.
Just remember 2001 in Turkey when we end up counting the free throws of Papaloukas allthough we
were leading with 20 points at half time against Germany!
 
I don't know though, I still need to see the team on Wednesday to be sure.
 
It was actually like 15 year olds playing 18 year olds. I totally didn't enjoy it, would have hated it if our team was the one to lose like that, I actually do feel embarrassed.
 
Ilya said:
It was actually like 15 year olds playing 18 year olds. I totally didn't enjoy it, would have hated it if our team was the one to lose like that, I actually do feel embarrassed.

Yes but you have to think longterm. It is time for Greece to become a big team. I mean really a big team.

For a decade our team had a psychological problem, failing in the most critical moments because they did not stand the pressure.

Just remember EC03 in Sweden against Italy how much fear the players had in their eyes without ability to score.

Why not turn the game around. Why not develop a legend a myth around the team and let our opponents be the party that has the psychological problem if they have to face us.
 
Too sad,congrats for greece.Amazing defensive team.
Well technically,Greece had 8 players above 205 while Lebanon had 3 players only above 200 cm !
Second Greece were dominating the rebounds something like 45 to 16 for lebanon only.
The absence of joe vogel were the direct reason for that big failure,the centers of greece were almost taking control of everything,rebounds,lay ups,dunks.If joe vogel was there,im sure the difference wouldnt be that far,its not normal to have a 195cm defending a 210 cm.
This is not my team , this is not our performance,i know we were going to loose but not by shamefull loss.
Congrats to greece and their fans and i hope we will not start crying cz our situation is not so supportive.
Hope to fix the mistakes very soon and we are planning to do so.
 
What happened to Tsartsaris? Suddenly in form? Strange.

Must have been that he was not playing center today... :rolleyes:
 
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