BLIZNYUK: “We are ready to win two matches, but the most important thing is to win the first”

Ukrainian national team basketball player Bogdan Bliznyuk commented on the 2023 World Cup qualifying match against the Italian team. The match will be played on Sunday, February 23 at 22:00 in Livorno.

Playing away will be difficult, but we showed at EuroBasket that we can play against them. We can say that both they and we had stronger teams back then. However, the names on the field do not decide anything and we think about our basketball first.

We trained well and we feel we are in good shape. We are ready to win two games, but the important thing is to win the first game.

I am very happy to be back in the national team, I miss everyone so much. All the kids are here, the atmosphere is nice as always. Everyone wants to fight for wins and play for each other.”

Recall that, like Spain, Italy qualified from Group L to qualify for the World Cup. Three national teams – Ukraine, Georgia and Iceland – are applying for the last ticket from the group.

Before the final window, Ukraine has an advantage over both Georgia and Iceland in in-person meetings, but loses to their rivals in terms of the number of wins. Therefore, in the final international window in February, the Ukrainians must win both games, and Iceland and Georgia must each expect to lose at least one match.