Portuguese basketball coach Mario Gomes said on Sunday that the two special matches in the Guimarães International Championship showed that Quinas has the quality to compete with “stronger” opponents.

At the head of a group of 13 players who have been in training since June 18, the coach considered that the victories he achieved on Friday against Argentina (73-63), the team ranked number eight in the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), and today, against Great Britain (63-58), number 52, show that Portugal, number 54 in this hierarchy, is ready for “very difficult” matches.

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“It was a very good tournament and very useful for us, because we played against teams that are theoretically stronger, given our position in the world rankings. They are very important matches, with maximum demands. I am convinced that we already have the basketball to compete. We will not always win, but we can compete,” he said after the match against the British team at the Pavilhao Desportivo Unite Vimaranense.

Aware that his pupils “gave everything and more” on Friday, surprising the Albiceleste “a little”, Mario Gomes admitted that Portugal failed today in attack, but managed to win, something he believes is “important in a high-level competition”.

After winning five of the seven special matches he played during the training camp, which is scheduled to end on Friday, the Portuguese will have two more unplanned “workouts”, both in Madrid, against South Sudan, a team qualified for Paris 2024, in Madrid on Tuesday, and again against Argentina on Wednesday.

Mario Gomez also praised the “quality of work” and the “mental and physical availability of the players” in the only time the team can concentrate and “try some new things”, and even “exhaustion” at the end of the season. The season, and stated that the level shown in the special matches is already close to what they want to see in the qualifying stage for Eurobasket2025.

Portugal, who are third in Group A after two rounds, resume the qualifying phase on November 22, hosting Slovenia, and have “a core group of 20 players who can be called up at any time”, depending on “form and level”. Mario Gomez highlighted the “characteristics of the opponents”.

The team is counting on the return of the main players Diogo Ventura and Diogo Brito to qualify, after they were absent from the training camp “due to the need for physical recovery”, and on the center forward Neemias Cueta, the champion of the North American Basketball League (NBA) with the Boston Celtics this year in 2025 in the final stage in the event of Portugal qualifying.

Nehemiah [Queta] “In the summer you can come. He didn't come this time, because I was committed to the NBA Summer League and we didn't have any official games. If we qualify for the final stage of the Eurobasket, he will definitely come, because he wants to come and he knows that he will be welcomed with open arms whenever he can.”