2012 Olympic Qualifying Tournament

[saalsapr]

Tonight Macedonia vs Porto Roco. Lets go boys.

You speak of wanting people to show Macedonia respect, but then you go and spell another country's name wrong.

Or is that how we're officially called in macedonian?

[Robimkd]

Tonight Macedonia vs Porto Roco. Lets go boys.

[Supply&Demand]

That is simply incorrect. Most Lithuanians thought the loss to Macedonia was the Lithuanian team and coach's own fault due to poor execution of a game plan which allowed too few options anyway. Most Lithuanians thought that the Lithuanian team should have beaten Macedonia regardless of Macedonia having a single solitary American on the team. Most Lithuanians, including all the team members, were disappointed in themselves!

Most Lithuanian posters were indeed rational and understanding about the game, but to be fair, I have also seen some Lithuanians here complain about our use of a naturalized player.

It is very clear that our FYROMian friends are very proud of their NT.
Personally i found FYROM NT to be a very good and pleasant surprise.
But honestly now if you really want to repeat your success you have to stop talking so much.
As one previously said one 4rth position could mean the beginning of something but it could as well mean nothing.
Consistency is everything.
FYROM in terms of basketball has grown a lot in the last tournament but still is very small in trandition.
I wish you good luck and keep the ball down , keep beeing underestimated and you will do great ,if not i guess that it will not be good for you.

People here aren't really "talking". There is excitement to see if the team can repeat their success and qualify for the Olympics, but no one (other than one user here) is claiming we will beat USA and stroll to the podium. Personally I'm more worried about getting out of the group - we were drawn with two teams that made it to the round of 16 in the 2010 World Champs.

@macleopard13
Did it ever cross your mind that a country with slavic decent using the term Macedonia because they just decided to is also an insult for Greeks too or you take this very lightly?

For the record, our country is not only Slavic. We also have many Albanians, Turks, Vlachs, Roma, etc. My wife is Albanian.

If you are insulted by the name, that's all your fault. You're living in a large geographical region in which you comprise only one part. Don't cry when the other people in the region of Macedonia also recognize as Macedonian.

[klakis]

It is very clear that our FYROMian friends are very proud of their NT.
Personally i found FYROM NT to be a very good and pleasant surprise.
But honestly now if you really want to repeat your success you have to stop talking so much.
As one previously said one 4rth position could mean the beginning of something but it could as well mean nothing.
Consistency is everything.
FYROM in terms of basketball has grown a lot in the last tournament but still is very small in trandition.
I wish you good luck and keep the ball down , keep beeing underestimated and you will do great ,if not i guess that it will not be good for you.

@macleopard13
Did it ever cross your mind that a country with slavic decent using the term Macedonia because they just decided to is also an insult for Greeks too or you take this very lightly?

[Hepcat]

All we want is respect nothing more......and there will be always trolls on both sides who talk BS. Everyone is free to have an opinion but your behavior is childish.

Macleopard13 was hardly being "childish" in the face of remarks such as these:

Lithaunia basketball is over.

Lithaunians have no chance aganst Makedonia.... go hide Litaunians,we gonna crush you third time.

Comments like that are rash and come back to bite you on the ass.

Most Lithuanians cried almost a year about how we are cheating something with Mccaleb don't even considered that it could be their own fault losing this game.

That is simply incorrect. Most Lithuanians thought the loss to Macedonia was the Lithuanian team and coach's own fault due to poor execution of a game plan which allowed too few options anyway. Most Lithuanians thought that the Lithuanian team should have beaten Macedonia regardless of Macedonia having a single solitary American on the team. Most Lithuanians, including all the team members, were disappointed in themselves!



Macedonia beat Lithuania last summer because the Macedonian coach designed a game plan which turned out to be perfect that day. Lithuania had been blitzing opponents with the pick n' roll. The Macedonian coach "cheated" on defence by putting three defenders against the pick n' roll thus daring the wide open Lithuanian forwards to hit the three point shot. And the Lithuanians couldn't hit the three point shot if their lives depended upon it that day.

Macedonia also had a great tournament as a whole. The chemistry was just right and the team came together and peaked at absolutely the right time.

But team chemistry is a very fragile thing. It disappears in the wink of an eye. And you find that teams that come out of nowhere to put it all together all of a sudden can rarely do it again a year later. Why not is tough to say but it's that intangible chemistry thing. Coaches all over the world have been trying unsuccessfully to bottle that intangible for nearly a century.

So I say to you Macedonian fellows, "Cut out the trash talking (e.g. beating the U.S. etc.) after just one good tournament and be very careful of New Zealand in your group." Otherwise your team could quickly be sidelined and you'll be wondering why.

[Supply&Demand]

Your team is old and slow and you have a short bench. And dont tell me that this friendly game means anything Lithuanias couch was just picking the players before tournament.

The friendly game showed that we have some young options. Aleksandar Kostoski looked very good, picked up 11 points. The only player older than 30 in that squad was Chekovski, I believe, who is not a key player for us anyway.

There will be a "Lithuania/Macedonia quarrel" thread created soon.

Here in Macedonia, we're better than you, and we know it!



But really, there is no reason for us to fight. We have common Balto-Slavic roots.

[gary81]

The quarrel between Lithuania and Macedonia is without meaning, I research the OQT's group draw , Lithuania and Macedonia will probably meet in this tourment, at that time who wiil win is the best proof which team is stronger.
Here is my forecast ：A1-Greek A2—Puerto Rico；B1－Lithuania B2－Venezuela；C1-Russia C2-Dominica; D1-Macedonia,D2-New Zealand.
Quarter final: game13: A1-B2 Greek- Venezuela, Greek win; game14: A2-B1 Puerto Rico-Lithuania, Lithuania win.
game15: C1-D2 Russia-New Zealand ,Russia win; game16:C2-D1 Dominica-Macedonia, Macedonia win.
Semi final: 13 winner -15winner Greek- Rissia 14winner-16winner Lithuania VS Macedonia
Let's look forward to the game and see which team can make their fans exciting.

[kestiz]

Macedonia with all due respect your not even close to being as good as Lithuania or Greece. One bronze medal game doesn't mean your at the same level of countries that have been competing in basketball for years like Lithuania/Serbia/Spain/France/Greece. If your team will play like they did last euro championship for the next ten years, then come back pls. Last year noone took you seriously and paid for it, this year it wont be the same trust me. I dont see you getting to olympics without a miracle.

Your team is old and slow and you have a short bench. And dont tell me that this friendly game means anything Lithuanias couch was just picking the players before tournament.

[macleopard13]

I know that you'll play in the semifinals - that's what I am expecting. I respect you as a decent European team only behind Russia, Spain and France (maybe Lithuania and Greece if they improve). But to say that you're better than Spain, Russia, USA?? That's bull. You haven't even made it past the qualifying tournament, who do you think you are? Gods?

Lithaunia could beat them ,we beat Lithaunia, so we beat USA now .

There will be a "Lithuania/Macedonia quarrel" thread created soon.

[Supply&Demand]

Fine, you guys are strong and are favorites to get into the Olympics, are favorites to play in the Olympic finals, favorites to crush Spain and France and Russia. Macedonia is the king of basketball at the moment and Lithuanians are losers at everything, including basketball. Happy?

Dude, we're not saying we are the best team in the world. We are just saying that we can compete.

Greece is occupying macedonia now?

There is a complicated history between our countries and this is not the place to discuss it to be honest.

[rikhardur]

Greece/FYROM quarrel should go here.

[Remon]

We are in favor of calling you Macedonia because we know what it's like to be in occupation. We didn't like Yugoslavia either (EuroBasket 1995, American ref made some bullshit calls against us - Sabonis got hit with a tech just because he wanted a foul). But still, Greeks are our friends somewhat - their fans cheered for us in EB 1995, and now the coach (who coached Lithuanian club Zalgiris last season) is friendly towards us and wishes us to qualify. And you're still an enemy and we're still waiting for revenge.

Greece is occupying macedonia now?

[Pero Antic]

Fine, you guys are strong and are favorites to get into the Olympics, are favorites to play in the Olympic finals, favorites to crush Spain and France and Russia. Macedonia is the king of basketball at the moment and Lithuanians are losers at everything, including basketball. Happy?

All we want is respect nothing more......and there will be always trolls on both sides who talk BS. Everyone is free to have an opinion but your behavior is childish. We are not Favorites but maybe a black horse who could easily play semifinal in Venezuela and if we are just one game away from London everything is possible.

[macleopard13]

Most Lithuanians cried almost a year about how we are cheating something with Mccaleb don't even considered that it could be their own fault losing this game. "NO NO Lithuania is too strong to lose they cheated thats the only way those bloody Macedonians could actually beat us" they said. Now we played without Mccaleb, Antic, Ilievski, Gecevski anyway. the only guy over 30y. in our team was Cekovski all others are around 25 years or even younger. Now all those experts don't even show up to tell me again how much we suck how it was all luck how hard it would be now for us to achieve something similar.

PS: And yes it was a friendly but everyone who watched that game knew that the Lithuanians wanted revenge and played like in a tournament and even risked to get injured.

Fine, you guys are strong and are favorites to get into the Olympics, are favorites to play in the Olympic finals, favorites to crush Spain and France and Russia. Macedonia is the king of basketball at the moment and Lithuanians are losers at everything, including basketball. Happy?

[Pero Antic]

Most Lithuanians cried almost a year about how we are cheating something with Mccaleb don't even considered that it could be their own fault losing this game. "NO NO Lithuania is too strong to lose they cheated thats the only way those bloody Macedonians could actually beat us" they said. Now we played without Mccaleb, Antic, Ilievski, Gecevski anyway. the only guy over 30y. in our team was Cekovski all others are around 25 years or even younger. Now all those experts don't even show up to tell me again how much we suck how it was all luck how hard it would be now for us to achieve something similar.

PS: And yes it was a friendly but everyone who watched that game knew that the Lithuanians wanted revenge and played like in a tournament and even risked to get injured.