CONAKRY (Guinea) – When in November 2023, FIBA Africa held the Draw for the 2025 AfroBasket Qualifiers, Guinea landed in Group E alongside Tunisia, Angola and Kenya. That in itself was nothing to bother about but they had something to worry about.
The big question for the Guinea Basketball Federation was, who would take charge of the team with the exit of their helmsman Coach Zeljko Zecevict who had left for AS Sale of Morocco.
The reason for this was that since 2021, the West African nation has witnessed a meteoric rise in the continent and it is only appropriate that it stays that way.
Guinea had it difficult coming to terms with the exit of the coach who had been responsible for the steady rise and they had to go searching for him.
Relief finally came as the Serbian coach returned to his duty post and Guinea can only hope his magic remains as they seek a ticket to the 2025 AfroBasket.
Coach Zecevic is back on a familiar terrain with his wards and has hit the ground running and back in training.
He told FIBA.basketball in a chat that it feels good to be back and that he actually never went away in the first place but only took a short break. However, he stated that what he has going for him is his players.
“No players, no success. Without human resources, it’s not possible to obtain any kind of results. Guinea is an export players country so depending on contact and communications with players, their clubs and agencies. So, one big work which depends a lot on the players status in their clubs.”
Currently ranked 79th in the world and 11th in Africa, Guinea are leaving nothing to chance in their quest for a successful run in the 2025 AfroBasket.
Just last year in Lagos, Nigeria, Guinea caused an upset in the FIBA Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament when they defeated reigning African champions Tunisia 95-86 to advance to the Semi-Finals where they suffered defeat at the hands of Senegal.
Coach Zecevic can count on the likes of Alpha Kaba who led the way for Guinea in that encounter as he finished with a team-high of 22 points and Alpha Diallo came up with 19 points and 10 assists.
The Qualifiers will allow Guinea to further showcase themselves and prove that the win over Tunisia was no fluke.
They will face Tunisia in what will be a redemption mission for the North Africans in their second game a day after meeting Angola.
FIBA
Source link : https://www.fiba.basketball/afrobasket/2025/qualifiers/news/guinea-bank-on-zeljko-zecevic-to-book-ticket-for-2025-afrobasket
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Publish date : 2024-02-16 08:00:00
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