"It was a bad defeat on Thursday, but there is in sport. Iceland is not a mattress nation, but there are the conditions to win tomorrow evening. If we don't win, the path to the world championships will all be uphill".
After the defeat on Thursday evening in Iceland, Giovanni Petrucci, president of the Italian Basketball Federation, presented with these words the match tomorrow night, at the Paladozza in Bologna, between Italy and Iceland, valid for the 2023 World Cup qualifiers in Japan, Philippines and Indonesia.
The basketball blues will play in the Emilian city for the 38th time.
The last match was in 2018: the match against Poland, for the 2019 World Cup qualifiers, won by the Italian national team.
The first match played in Bologna by the Azzurri, on the other hand, was a friendly against France on February 16, 1947, which ended with a result of 36-28 for the guests.
The meeting, at the time, took place in Salaborsa (today the municipal library), where the press conference was held today.
"It's hard to imagine, but basketball was played here - said Stefano Bonaccini, president of Emilia-Romagna - Basketball is very popular, but in Bologna it has to do with something that goes beyond a simple sporting event".
