At the press conference after the victory over Valongo (3-1)in the quarter-finals of the Elite Cup, Sporting‘s new coach, Edo Bosch, had a speech typical of a coach at a new club at the start of the season: it takes time to start seeing the new game model on the track. “We are having an atypical pre-season due to the World Cup in September. For today [ontem]I just asked my players to be solid in defense, not to give counterattacks to the opponent because we know they are a strong team in that regard. And we did it. We didn’t give Valongo many scoring opportunities and the result reflects that,” he said, confessing that Sporting is still far from being a team in its image. “We are changing many game principles. I congratulate my athletes because it’s not easy to apply so many different things in such a short amount of work time. I would like the Elite Cup to be in two weeks but things are as they are and we have to adapt”, he said. On the eve of meeting Benfica – with whom he had so many ‘heated’ meetings as FC Porto’s goalkeeper -, the Catalan coach highlighted the defensive aspect as a fundamental aspect for winning titles. “I was speaking to Luís Magalhães this week and he mentioned to me that all the titles he won as a basketball coach were thanks to defense. We have to enjoy defending”, he highlighted, preferring not to talk too much about the opponent on the other side of the second circle. “What really matters to me is my team. We are growing, it takes time to change concepts according to my convictions but we will try to be at maximum strength and reach the final, which is our objective”, he concluded. By Duarte Gomes
