Basketball: snow, delay and no coach, the improbable Swiss evening

It’s still bad luck for Swiss Basket. While the federation had decided to emigrate to German-speaking Switzerland to organize an international match there, it had to face a wave of panic due to the weather conditions on Thursday. This did not prevent him in the end from triumphing over Kosovo (75-43) to sign a third success in as many games in these pre-qualifications for the 2027 World Cup.

Jonathan Kazadi had never experienced this in his fifteen-year career: starting a match without coaches on the bench. On Thursday, the car composed of coach Ilias Papatheodorou and his assistants Dimitrios Menoudakos and Patrick Pembele drove for long hours in slow motion on the road between Friborg and Bern, which was covered in snow. So much so that it was Friborg playmaker Roberto Kovac and Michel-Ofik Nzege who were tasked with giving the first impulses at the Mobiliar Arena.

“It’s so improbable,” laughs Patrick Pembele. The day after this chaotic evening, the coach of the Geneva Lions found a smile again on Thursday at Zurich airport, where the selection was to board in the afternoon for Azerbaijan, which they face on Sunday. “But yesterday (editor’s note: Thursday)we were all very nervous in the car. The three vehicles left at the same time, 4:45 p.m., from Fribourg. But they all arrived at different times. Ours had the misfortune of encountering cars that didn’t go up initially, then accidents along the way.”

When they realized that they would not arrive in time, after yet another pile-up which forced them to leave the highway, the three men decided to take out the iPad. “I still can’t believe it. We called Jo, Roberto and Michel-Ofik. We explained to them the rotations, when to take time out and the offensive systems that they had to play at the start, explains Patrick Pembele. Defensively, we were in the clear since Ilias always does a video session on match day.

During the first half, we often saw the fitness trainer on his phone on the bench. Did Ilias Papatheodorou manage the choice of men from his car? “Joker,” says Patrick Pembele.

To prepare for this third pre-qualifying meeting, the selection was able to count on the feelings of Emilie Duvivier. The coach of Troistorrents and the Swiss women’s team was the video assistant of Jean-Denys Choulet, the new coach of Kosovo, at his last club in Roanne. “We looked at what he was doing with this team in France. This allowed us to anticipate a lot of things,” admits Patrick Pembele.

In these grotesque conditions, Switzerland outclassed Kosovo with an exceptional defensive performance – only 6 and 3 points conceded in quarters 2 and 4. “I congratulate the guys for this great performance. I was impressed from my car,” admitted Ilias Papatheodorou.

Elected man of the match, Boris Mbala impressed with his 15 points and 12 rebounds but also his defense on the man. The winger was well supported by Selim Fofana (14 points), Paul Gravet (+29 differential) and Nzege (+27 in 18 minutes). For his last international match, at 33, Kazadi, a recent father and who also plays in 3×3, scored 14 points. While playing interim coaches. Sure he will remember it.