Sopron Basket

L�szl� Killik Women's Hungarian Cup Finals begin on Thursday, where our first opponents will be the hosts CMB CARGO UNI Gy�r.

On the Hungarian stage we have been unbeaten so far, ur rivals who keep improving every year could not keep up with our team that was trained in Euroleague circumstances. In light of that we could say that we are top favorites for the Hungarian Cup trophy, but we can not. On one hand one of the attributes of the cup competition is that anything can happen in a single game, and on the other hand the Euroleague quarter finals that start on March 5th are top priority. the main focus of our preparation is the game against Bourges. It would be a huge accomplishment to make it into the top four clubs of Europe, the FINAL4 in two consecutive seasons! It will be extremely difficult against the top team of the French league, Bourges even with the home-court advantage on our side, but we have created the chance which we want to take. In this respect the Hungarian Cup Finals came at the worst possible time, because in case we win in the quarter finals we would face two more games This would not only put physical and mental pressure on the players, but we would miss multiple days that we could use for the preparation for the Bourges game. It is not an easy situation, so it is not surprising that our head coach Roberto Iniguez is also preparing for one of the most difficult times of his life.

Honestly, if it were my decision, I would have chosen not to participate in the cup - said our head coach beginning to analyze the problems of managing to perform well on many levels. - I don't want to kill my team in a three-day series, and then getting into the Euroleague play-offs three days later. Those who think that it is possible to prepare for the series against Bourges with a day's rest and one day of practice after a series like this have no idea about the niveau of the Euroleague or basketball itself at all. I have six Final4's in my past, I have coached in many countries on a high level, so I think I know a thing or two about basketball. Perhaps they could have asked for my opinion in the federation before making this decision. As a coach I have to pay attention to the team and the players. I can't gut them! Bourges is a team with great tradition, with a talented, strong team that has a fantastic offensive potential, against whom we will have a very hard time, but I think we have worked hard for being able to compete against them! We have worked hard, we would deserve to go against them in the best possible circumstances. What we are forced to do now is not that at all!

- What could be the goals in the cup this way?

- There is no right path, there is no right solution. There are people who say let's just lose to Gy�r, and then that's it, we can prepare for Euroleague. At 51 years of age they expect me to just give up a game? To lie to people? This is not why I am here in Sopron. I am here because I love this club, and its philosophy. In almost two years we have respected all of our opponents by preparing against them the best way we could. I tell my players before every game that we have to respect the opponent, whoever it may be, and all the people who come to our games and buy tickets to see us. We are talking about the situation with the players, I am asking for their opinion, their insights, because it affects them as well, they are a part of this too. They want only one thing, too, to prepare against Bourges in the best possible way, and to have a real chance against them in the series. What's more, we don't just work for ourselves, we do it for the entire Hungarian basketball community. So the country can have two spots in the Euroleague group phase instead of one. Many people have asked me how this could have happened. I seriously can't tell you how we ended up being put in this position. One thing is for sure, something is not working the right way. When the season schedule was created they ignored the Euroleague play-offs, and now that this is the situation they wouldn't even say that they have made a mistake not believing that we could make it here. They would expect us to go to the Cup Finals without any complaints, but that is not how it works. Here is for example the situation against PEAC-P�cs. They had problems, and ansked us to reschedule the game, and although we would have benefited from playing that game we understood their situation and found a mutually suitable solution to play that game later. Gentlemen, sportsmen do it this way! I understand that we cannot stay away from the tournament, but I can not accet that the federation has pushed the team and the players in such a situation!

Our team captain Zs�fia Fegyverneky also emphasized that she has never been in a situation like this in her entire career where she might have to play four games in six days.

Tickets can be purchased at the venue or on the internet in advance for a daily price of 1000 HUF.

The game will be broadcast by M4 Sport but all games will be available via live video stream at sport.mindigo.hu

The schedule of the cup, additional information, buying tickets at the official website of the tournament: https://nmk2019.hunbasket.com/

Sopron vs. Gy�r

4 Hungarian Cup games
4 wins/0 losses
341 points scored/212 conceded

Games between the two teams this season

Sopron Basket – CMB CARGO UNI Gy�r 71-52 (19-10, 21-15, 15-10, 16-17)

Sopron Basket: Fegyverneky 4, Turner 11/9, Czukor 2, Zahui 11/9, Dupree 11 Cs.: Crvendakic 16/6, Dubei 9/9, Hat�r 4, Varga K. 2, Salvadores 1, Weninger -
CMB CARGO UNI Gy�r: Brown -, Raks�nyi 2, T�r�k �. 8/6, Spanou 4, Krnjic 13 Cs.: Gray 11, Czank 7/3, Nagy D. 5/3, Lakl�th 2, Varga Zs. -, Szab� P. -

CMB CARGO UNI Gy�r - Sopron Basket 53-82 (11-19, 11-21, 18-21, 13-21)

CMB CARGO UNI Gy�r: Brown 5/3, Raks�nyi 2, T�r�k �. 2, Spanou 13/6, Gray 23 Cs.: Mandic 2, Varga Zs. 6, Czank 2, Bicz� L. -
Sopron Basket: Fegyverneky 6, Turner 4, Czukor 4, Dupree 12, Jovanovic 8 Cs.: Casas 20/6, Crvendakic 12/6, Dubei 7/3, Hat�r 7, Weninger V. 2, Varga K. -

Hungarian Cup - Caught between a rock and a hard place