The head coach of the men's national team, Rosen Barchovski, believes that although Alexander Vezenkov and Cody Miller-McIntyre are among the leaders of our team, the other players must also play with the necessary self-confidence.
According to him, finding balance in the lineup will be key to a good performance in the decisive matches against Sweden and Germany in the EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers.
„The Lions“ held their first training session today at the “Arena Botevgrad“, and in an interview with the Bulgarian Basketball Federation, Barchovski also shared his expectations before the important matches.
“Obviously, Sasho and Kodi will be the leaders of this team, but I would also include Pavlin Ivanov and Yordan Minchev, without forgetting everyone else, of course. This balance is very difficult, but we have to find it. The rest of them have to play the game that they show in their teams. If we focus too much on the two of them and especially on Vezenkov, it will not be a good decision. We will talk about this topic. I hope the others also play with the necessary self-confidence“, Barchovski wished.
Only seven basketball players took part in the first training session today, but the team is expected to be in full formation by tomorrow.
“We thought about whether to work on this day, because we are only half the team. However, there are some guys who haven't had games for a long time, as the last round of the Bulgarian championship was on February 10. The real work really starts on Tuesday. Unfortunately, Andrey Ivanov got injured, he's an important player, he's always in my plans, but these things happen. I hope his surgery is successful and he recovers as soon as possible“, explained Barchovski.
The team's coach also commented on the players called up to the Swedish and German squads.
“The Swedes traditionally have the same squad, even one of their best players, Håkansson - an attacking guard, wasn't in the first match against us, but now they're in full force. For Germany, it's clear, with Daniel Theis they've already had seven world champions in their squad. In theory, they haven't qualified either, so the matches are very important for them too," he added.
Rosen Barchovski is confident that "Arena Botevgrad" will be full for the upcoming match with Sweden, explaining why this is the most suitable place to hold this match.
„I had no doubts about the hall. The match with Sweden is especially very important. The atmosphere is guaranteed here. Maybe in Sofia with Vezenkov there would have been a lot of people, even if the hall wasn't completely filled, but we can't take risks in this situation. In the future, we must definitely go in this direction. There are enough large halls in Bulgaria and this is an example in many countries, but at the moment we cannot afford to do any experiments - neither with the hall, nor with the team," Barchovski concluded.
The match Bulgaria - Sweden is on February 20 (Thursday) at 7:30 PM at “Arena Botevgrad“, while three days later our team visits Germany in Bamberg in their last match of the qualifiers.