Chus Mateo: “I don’t want to lose the essence of the national team’s history”

Chus Mateo led the first training session in Guadalajara this Monday as Spain’s coach, replacing Sergio Scariolo on the bench, and explained that in his new position he does not want to lose the “essence” of the champion team that has made history in recent years.

The team started today at the Multipurpose Palace in the city of Castile-La Mancha, preparing for the match against Denmark in the Danish town of Farm on Thursday the 27th, and against Georgia on the island of Tenerife on Sunday the 30th, a duel that will open the qualifying rounds for the 2027 World Cup in Qatar.

“When I do things, I want to be myself. Sometimes it will be different, sometimes it will not be so different. It may look better from the outside. I don’t want to lose the essence of the history of the national team. It is great and I hope that I can continue to maintain that as long as I am there,” the Madrid coach said in a statement to the press.

Coach Chus Mateo added that he wants Spain to be a team that can share the ball and create advantages from the paint, is unselfish, can work together in front and behind, is brave and plays basketball well.

“It’s not an easy job. You have to summarize a lot and try to do important things in a very short time, but we will try to do it,” he reflected.

Upon arriving at the concentration site, Chus Mateo found a “wide-eyed group”, ready to listen to all the new things they were about to discover, saying, “This is a new stage for almost everyone, and many are very excited.”

“We all want to do things well. I’m really happy to be part of the team. For me, this is an incentive for all of us to work hard,” Mateo continued.

The Madrid coach wants to convey the message: “What we have to do is try to get this team to play as well as possible in a short period of time.” In his opinion, the most important thing now is to create a cohesive group that can create a good atmosphere and help the team move forward in difficult times.

The new manager’s goal was for each player to find the support of his team-mates, concluding that “16 players have been called up from different clubs and they will now start to get to know each other as a team.”